LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


[YOUNG  GREELEY'S  ARRIVAL  IN  NEW  YORK.] 


THE    LIFE 


OP 


HORACE    G  REE  LEY, 


EDITOR  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE. 


BY   J.    PARTON. 


"  If,  on  a  full  and  final  review,  my  life  and  practice  shall  be  found  unworthy  my  princi- 
ples, let  due  infamy  be  heaped  on  my  memory  ;  hut  let  none  he  thereby  led  to  distrust  the  prin- 
ciples to  which  I  proved  recreant,  nor  yet  the  ability  of  some  to  adorn  them  by  a  suitable  life 
and  conversation.  To  unerring  time  be  all  this  committed." 

Horace  Greeley  in  1846. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    MASON    BROTHERS 
1855. 


UNIVERSITY   r-'    CALIFORTJr» 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854, 
BY  MASON  BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District 
of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED   BY  PRINTED    BY 

THOMAS   B.    SMITH,  JOHN    A.    GRAY, 

216  William  St.,  N.  Y.  95  &  97  Cliff  St. 


TO 


THE  YOUNG  MEN  OF  THE  FREE  STATES, 


IS     RESPECTFULLY      DEDICATED 
BY    ONE     OF    THEIR    NUMBER. 


THE  JOURNALISTS  ARE  NOW  THE  TRUE  KINGS  AND  CLERGY:  HENCE- 
FORTH HISTORIANS,  UNLESS  THEY  ARE  FOOLS,  MUST  WRITE  NOT  OF  BOUR- 
BON DYNASTIES,  AND  TUDORS,  AND  HAPSBURGS ;  BUT  OF  STAMPED,  BROAD- 
SHEET DYNASTIES,  AND  QUITE  NEW  SUCCESSIVE  NAMES,  ACCORDING  AS 
THIS  OR  THE  OTHER  ABLE  EDITOR,  OR  COMBINATION  OF  ABLE  EDITORS, 
GAINS  THE  WORLD'S  EAR. 

Sartor  Resartus. 


r  t  f  a  1 t . 


JUSTICE,  alike  to  the  author  and  to  his  subject,  demands 
the  explicit  statement  of  a  fact. 

Horace  Greeley  is  wholly  innocent  of  this  book.  Until  I 
had  determined  to  write  it,  I  had  no  acquaintance  with  him  of 
a  personal  nature,  and  no  connection  except  that  which  exists 
between  every  subscriber  to  the  Tribune  and  its  editor. 
Since  that  time,  I  have  had  a  few  short  interviews  with  him — 
heard  and  overheard  a  few  facts  of  his  career  from  his  own  lips 
— 'had  two  or  three  of  my  best  stories  spoiled  by  his  telling 
me  that  that  part  of  them  which  redounded  most  to  his  credit 
was  untrue.  He  has  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  com- 
position of  the  volume,  nor  has  he  seen  a  page  of  it  in  manu- 
script or  proof,  nor  does  he  know  one  word  of  its  contents. 

I  undertook  the  task  simply  and  solely  because  I  liked  the 
man,  because  I  gloried  in  his  career,  because  I  thought  the 
story  of  his  life  ought  to  be  told. 

The  writings  of  an  editor  usually  pass  away  with  the  occa- 
sions that  called  them  forth.  They  may  have  aroused,  amused. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

instructed  and  advanced  a  nation — many  nations.  They  may 
have  saved  or  overturned  systems  and  dynasties ;  provoked  or 
prevented  wars,  revolutions  and  disasters ;  thrown  around 
Prejudice  and  Bigotry  tli3  decent  mantle  of  Kespectability,  or 
torn  it  off;  made  great  truths  familiar  and  fruitful  in  the  pub- 
lic mind,  or  given  a  semblance  of  dignity  to  the  vulgar  hue 
and  cry  which  assails  such  truths  always  when  they  are  new. 
These  things,  and  others  equally  important,  an  editor  may  do, 
editors  have  done.  But  he  rarely  has  leisure  to  produce  a 
WORK  which  shall  perpetuate  his  name  and  personal  influence. 
A  collection  of  his  editorial  writings  will  not  do  it,  for  he  is 
compelled  to  write  hastily,  diffusely,  and  on  the  topics  of  the 
hour.  The  story  of  his  life  may.  It  is  the  simple  narratives 
in  Franklin's  autobiography  that  have  perpetuated,  not  the 
nameyrf  that  eminent  man,  the  thunder  and  lightning  have  his 
name  in  charge,  but  the  influence  of  his  personality  in  forming 
the  characters  of  his  countrymen. 

The  reader  has  a  right  to  know  the  manner  in  which  the  facts 
and  incidents  of  this  work  were  obtained.  I  procured,  first  of 
all,  from  various  sources,  a  list  of  Mr.  Greeley's  early  friends, 
partners  and  relations ;  also,  a  list  of  the  places  at  which  he 
has  resided.  All  of  those  places  I  visited  ;  with  as  many  of 
those  persons  as  I  could  find  I  conversed,  and  endeavored  to 
extract  from  them  all  they  knew  of  the  early  life  of  my  hero. 
From  their  narratives,  and  from  the  letters  of  others  to  whom 
I  wrote,  the  account  of  his  early  life  was  compiled.  To  all  of 
them,  for  the  readiness  with  which  they  made  their  communi 
cations,  to  many  of  them  for  their  generous  and  confiding  hos 


PREFACE.  IX 

pitality  to  a  stranger,  I  again  offer  the  poor  return  of  my  sin- 
cere thanks. 

For  the  rest,  I  am  indebted  to  the  following  works  :  E.  L. 
Parker's  History  of  Londonderry ;  the  Bedford  Centennial ; 
the  New  Hampshire  Book  ;  the  Rose  of  Sharon  ;  the  Life  of 
Margaret  Fuller ;  Horace  Greeley's  Hints  towards  Reforms, 
and  Glances  at  Europe ;  also,  to  files  of  the  New  Yorker,  Log 
Cabin,  Jeffersonian,  American  Laborer,  Whig  Almanac,  and 
Tribune.  Nearly  every  number — there  are  more  than  five 
thousand  numbers  in  all — of  each  of  those  periodicals,  I  have 
examined,  and  taken  from  them  what  they  contain  respecting 
the  life  and  fortunes  of  their  editor. 

This  book  is  as  true  as  I  could  make  it ;  nothing  has  been  in- 
serted or  suppressed  for  the  sake  of  making  out  a  case.  Er- 
rors of  detail  in  a  work  containing  so  many  details  as  this  can 
scarcely  be  avoided  ;  but  upon  the  correctness  of  every  import- 
ant statement,  and  upon  the  general  fidelity  of  the  picture 
presented,  the  reader  may  rely.  Horace  Greeley,  as  the  read- 
er will  discover,  has  been  a  marked  person  from  his  earliest 
childhood,  and  he  is  remembered  by  his  early  friends  with  a 
vividness  and  affection  very  extraordinary.  Moreover,  in  the 
political  and  personal  contentions  of  his  public  life,  he  has  fre- 
quently been  compelled  to  become  autobiographical ;  therefore, 
in  this  volume  he  often  tells  his  own  story.  That  he  tells  it 
truly,  that  he  is  incapable  of  insincerity,  every  one  with  truth 
enough  in  his  heart  to  recognize  truth  in  others  will  perceive. 

The  opinion  has  been  recently  expressed  that  the  life  of  a 
man  ought  not  to  be  written  in  his  lifetime.  To  which,  among 


X  PREFACE. 

many  other  things,  this  might  be  replied  :  If  the  lives  of  pol- 
iticians like  Tyler,  Pierce,  and  others,  may  be  written  in 
their  lifetime,  with  a  view  to  subserve  the  interests  of  party, 
why  may  not  the  life  of  Horace  Greeley,  in  the  hope  of  sub- 
serving the  interests  of  the  country  ?  Besides,  those  who  think 
this  work  ought  not  to  have  been  written  are  at  liberty  not  to 
read  it. 

There  are  those  who  will  read  it  ;  and,  imperfect  as  it  is,  with 
pleasure.  They  are  those  who  have  taken  an  interest  in  Hor- 
ace Greeley's  career,  and  would  like  to  know  how  he  came  to 
be  the  man  he  is.  J.  P. 


YORK,  December,  1854 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE     SCOTCH-IRISH     OF     NEW     HAMPSHIRE. 

PAGE 

Londonderry  in  Ireland— The  Siege— Emigration  to  New  England— Settlement  of 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire — The  Scotch-Irish  introduce  the  culture  of  the 
potato  and  the  manufacture  of  linen— Character  of  the  Scotch-Irish— Their  sim- 
plicity— Love  of  fun — Stories  of  the  early  clergymen — Traits  in  the  Scotch-Irish 
character— Zeal  of  the  Londonderrians  in  the  Revolution— Horace  Greeley's  al- 
lusion to  his  Scotch-Irish  ancestry 19 

CHAPTER  II. 

ANCESTORS. — PARENTAGE.  —  BIRTH. 

Origin  of  the  Family— Old  Captain  Ezekiel  Greeley— Zaccheus  Greeley— Zaccheus 
the  Second— Roughness  and  Tenacity  of  the  Greeley  race— Maternal  Ancestors  of 
Horace  Greeley— John  Woodburn— Character  of  Horace  Greeley's  Great-grand- 
mother— His  Grandmother — Romantic  Incident — Horace  Greeley  is  born  "as 
black  as  a  chimney"— Comes  to  his  color— Succeeds  to  the  name  of  Horace 2H 

CHAPTER  III. 

EARLY     CHILDHOOD. 

The  Village  of  Amherst — Character  of  the  adjacent  country — The  Greeley  farm — 
The  Tribune  in  the  room  in  which  its  Editor  was  born — Horace  learns  to  read — 
Book  up-side  down — Goes  to  school  in  Londonderry — A  district  school  forty 
years  ago— Horace  as  a  young  orator — Has  a  mania  for  spelling  hard  words — 
Gets  great  glory  at  the  spelling  school — Recollections  of  his  surviving  schoolfel- 
lows—His future  eminence  foretold— Delicacy  of  ear— Early  choice  of  a  trade— 
His  courage  and  timidity — Goes  to  school  in  Bedford — A  favorite  among  his 
schoolfellows — His  early  fondness  for  the  village  newspaper — Lies  in  ambush  for 
the  post-rider  who  brought  it— Scours  the  country  for  books— Project  of  sending 
him  to  an  academy — The  old  sea-captain — Horace  as  a  farmer's  boy — Let  us  do 
our  stint  first— His  way  of  fishing 34 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HIS     FATHER     RUINE  D — R  EMOVAL     TO     VERMONT. 

PAGE 

New  Hampshire  before  the  era  of  manufactures — Causes  of  his  father's  failure — 
Rum  in  the  olden  time — An  execution  in  the  house — Flight  of  the  father — Horace 
and  the  Rum  Jug — Compromise  with  the  creditors — Removal  to  another  farm — 
Final  ruin — Removal  to  Vermont — The  winter  journey — Poverty  of  the  family — 
Scene  at  their  new  home— Cheerfulness  in  misfortune. ...  52 


CHAPTER  V. 

AT     WESTHAVEN,     VERMONT. 

Description  of  the  country— Clearing  up  Land— All  the  family  assist  a  la  Swiss- 
Family-Robinson — Primitive  costume  of  Horace — His  early  indifference  to  dress 
—His  manner  and  attitude  in  school— A  Peacemaker  among  the  boys— Gets  into 
a  scrape,  and  out  of  it— Assists  his  school-fellows  in  their  studies— An  evening 
scene  at  home — Horace  knows  too  much — Disconcerts  his  teachers  by  his  ques- 
tions— Leaves  school — The  pine-knots  still  blaze  on  the  hearth — Reads  incessant- 
ly—Becomes a  great  draught  player— Bee-hunting— Reads  at  the  Mansion  Hoyse 
—Taken  for  an  Idiot— And  for  a  possible  President— Reads  Mrs.  Hemans  with 
rapture — A  Wolf  Story — A  Pedestrian  Journey — Horace  and  the  horseman — 
Yoking  the  Oxen— Scene  with  an  old  Soaker— Rum  in  Westhaven— Horace's 
First  Pledge — Narrow  escape  from  drowning — His  religious  doubts — Becomes  a 
Universalist— Discovers  the  humbug  of  "  Democracy"— Impatient  to  begin  his  ap- 
prenticeship    57 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  PPRE  NTICE  SHIP. 

The  Village  of  East  Poultney— Horace  applies  for  the  Place— Scene  in  the  Garden 
—He  makes  an  Impression— A  difficulty  arises  and  is  overcome— He  enters  the 
office — Rite  of  Initiation — Horace  the  Victor — His  employer's  recollections  of  him 
—The  Pack  of  Cards— Horace  begins  to  paragraph— Joins  the  Debating  Society— 
His  manner  of  Debating— Horace  and  the  Dandy— His  noble  conduct  to  his 
father — His  first  glimpse  of  Saratoga — His  manners  at  the  Table — Becomes  the 
Town-Encyclopedia — The  Doctor's  Story — Recollections  of  one  of  his  fellow  ap- 
prentices—Horace's favorite  Poets— Politics  of  the  time— The  Anti- Mason  Excite- 
ment—The Northern  Spectator  stops — The  Apprentice  is  Free 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  VII. 

HE     WANDERS. 

PAGE 

Horace  leaves  Poultuey— His  first  Overcoat— Home  to  his  Father's  Log  House- 
Ranges  the  country  for  work— The  Sore  Leg  Cured— Gets  Employment,  but  little 
Money— Astonishes  the  Draught-Players—Goes  to  Erie,  Pa.— Interview  with  an 
Editor— Becomes  a  Journeyman  in  the  Office— Description  of  Erie— The  Lake— 
His  Generosity  to  his  Father— His  new  clothes — No  more  work  at  Erie — Starts  for 
New  York «-»»  106 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ARRIVAL     IN     NEW     YORK. 

The  journey — a  night  on  the  tow-path — He  reaches  the  city — Inventory  of  his  prop- 
erty— Looks  for  a  boarding-house — Finds  one — Expends  half  his  capital  upon 
clothes — Searches  for  employment — Berated  by  David  Hale  as  a  runaway  ap- 
prentice— Continues  the  search — Goes  to  church — Hears  of  a  vacancy — Obtains 

work — The  boss  takes  him  for  a  ' fool,'  but  changes  his  opinion — Nicknamed 

'  the  Ghost ' — Practical  jokes — Horace  metamorphosed — Dispute  about  commas 
— The  shoemaker's  boarding-house — Grand  banquet  on  Sundays.   118 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM     OFFICE     TO     OFFICE. 

Leaves  West's— Works  on  the  '  Evening  Post  '—Story  of  Mr.  Leggett— < Commer- 
cial Advertiser ' — '  Spirit  of  the  Times ' — Specimen  of  his  writing  at  this  period — 
Naturally  fond  of  the  drama— Timothy  Wiggins— Works  for  Mr.  Redfield— The 
first  lift...  ..  133 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FIRST  PENNY  PAPER — AND  WHO  THOUGHT  OF  IT. 

Importance  of  the  cheap  daily  press— The  originator  of  the  idea— History  of  the 
idea — Dr.  Sheppard's  Chatham-street  cogitations— The  Idea  is  conceived — It  is 
born — Interview  with  Horace  Greeley — The  Doctor  thinks  he  is  'no  common  boy' 
— The  schemer  baffled — Daily  papers  twenty-five  years  ago — Dr.  Sheppard  comes 
to  a  resolution— The  firm  of  Greeley  and  Story— The  Morning  Post  appears— And 
fails — The  sphere  of  the  cheap  press — Fanny  Fern  and  the  pea-nut  merchant 137 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE     FIEM     CONTINUES. 

PA.GB 

Lottery  printing— The  Constitutionalist— Dudley  S.  Gregory— The  lottery  suicide— 
The  firm  prospers — Sudden  death  of  Mr.  Story — A  new  partner — Mr.  Greeley  as  a 
master— A  dinner  story— Sylvester  Graham— Horace  Greeley  at  the  Graham 
House— The  New  Yorker  projected— James  Gordon  Bennett 146 

CHAPTER  XII. 

EDITOE  OF  THE  NEW  YOEKEE. 

Character  of  the  paper— Its  early  fortunes— Happiness  of  the  Editor— Scene  in  the 
Office — Specimens  of  Horace  Greeley's  Poetry — Subjects  of  his  Essays — His  Opin- 
ions then— His  Marriage— The  Silk-stocking  Story— A  day  in  Washington— His 
impressions  of  the  Senate— Pecuniary  difficulties— Cause  of  the  New  Yorker's  ill- 
success  as  a  Business — The  missing  letters — The  Editor  gets  a  nickname — The 
Agonies  of  a  Debtpr— Park  Benjamin— Henry  J.  Raymond 151 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE     JEFFEBSONI AN. 

Objects  of  tho  Jeffersonian — Its  character — A  novel  Glorious- Victory  paragraph — 
The  Graves  and  Cilley  duel— The  Editor  overworked 174 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE     LOG     CABIN. — "TIPPEOANOE     AND     TYLEE     TOO." 

Wire-pulling— The  delirium  of  1840— The  Log  Cabin— Unprecedented  hit— A 
glance  at  its  pages— Log  Cabin  jokes— Log  Cabin  song— Horace  Greeley  and 
the  cake-basket— Pecuniary  difficulties  continue— The  Tribune  announced 180 


CHAPTER  XV. 

STAETS     THE     TBIBUNE. 

The  Capital— The  Daily  Press  of  New  York  in  1841 —The  Tribune  appears—The 
Omens  unpropitious— The  first  week— Conspiracy  to  put  down  the  Tribune— The 
Tribune  triumphs— Thomas  McElrath— The  Tribune  alive— Industry  of  the  Edi- 
tors—Their,  independence— Horace  Greeley  and  John  Tyler— The  Tribune  a 
Fixed  Fact 191 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE     TRIBUNE     AND     FOTJEIEEISM. 

PAGE 

What  made  Horace  Greeley  a  Socialist— The  hard  winter  of  1838— Albert  Brisbane 
— The  subject  broached — Series  of  articles  by  Mr.  Brisbane  begun — Their  effect — 
Cry  of  Mad  Dog — Discussion  between  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  J.  Raymond — 
How  it  arose — Abstract  of  it  in  a  conversational  form. 199 

CHAPTER  XVII. 


Increase  of  price— The  Tribune  offends  the  Sixth  Ward  fighting-men— The  office 
Threatened — Novel  preparations  for  defense — Charles  Dickens  defended — The 
Editor  travels— Visits  Washington,  and  sketches  the  Senators— At  Mount  Vernon. 
—At  Niagara— A  hard  hit  at  Major  Noah 217 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE     TEIBUNE     AND     J.     FENIMOEE     COOPEE. 

The  libel— Horace  Greeley's  narrative  of  the  trial— He  reviews  the  opening  speech 
of  Mr.  Cooper's  counsel — A  striking  illustration — He  addresses  the  jury — Mr. 
Cooper  sums  up — Horace  Greeley  comments  on  the  speech  of  the  novelist — In 
doing  so  he  perpetrates  new  libels— The  verdict— Mr.  Greeley's  remarks  on  the 
same — Strikes  a  bee-line  for  New  York — A  new  suit — An  imaginary  case 224 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE     TEIBUNE     CONTINUES. 

The  Special  Express  system— Night  adventures  of  Enoch  Ward— Gig  Express— Ex- 
press from  Halifax — Baulked  by  the  snow-drifts — Party  warfare  then — Books 
published  by  Greeley  and  McElrath — Course  of  the  Tribune — The  Editor  travels 
— Scenes  in  Washington — An  incident  of  travel — Clay  and  Frelinghuysen — The 
exertions  of  Horace  Greeley — Results  of  the  defeat — The  Tribune  and  Slavery 
—Burning  of  the  Tribune  Building— The  Editor's  reflections  upon  the  fire 240 

CHAPTER  XX. 

MAEGAEET     FULLEE. 

Her  writings  in  the  Tribune— She  resides  with  Mr.  Greeley— His  narrative— Dietetic 
Sparring — Her  manner  of  writing — Woman's  Rights — Her  generosity — Her  inde- 
pendence—Her love  of  children— Margaret  and  Pickie— Her  opinion  of  Mr.  Gree- 
ley—Death  of  Pickie 253 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

EDITOEIAL     EEPAETEES. 

PAGK 

At  war  with  all  the  world— The  spirit  of  the  Tribune— Retorts  vituperative— The 
Tribune  and  Dr.  Potts— Some  prize  tracts  suggested— An  atheist's  oath— A  word 
for  domestics — Irish  Democracy — The  modern  drama — Hit  at  Dr.  Hawks — Disso- 
lution of  the  Union— Dr.  Franklin's  story— A  Picture  for  Polk— Charles  Dickens 
and  Copyright — Charge  of  malignant  falsehood — Preaching  and  Practice — Col. 
Webb  severely  hit— Hostility  to  the  Mexican  war— Violence  incited— A  few 
sparks — The  course  of  the  Tribune — Wager  with  the  Herald 263 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
1848! 

Revolution  in  Europe— The  Tribune  exults— The  Slievegammon  letters— Taylor  and 
Fillmore— Course  of  the  Tribune— Horace  Greeley  at  Vauxhall  Garden— His  elec- 
tion to  Congress 282 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THEEE     MONTHS     IN     CONGRESS. 

His  objects  as  a  Member  of  Congress — His  first  acts — The  Chaplain  hypocrisy — The 
Land  Reform  Bill— Distributing  the  Documents— Offers  a  novel  Resolution— The 
Mileage  Expos6 — Congressional  delays — Explosion  in  the  House — Mr.  Turner's 
oration— Mr.  Greeley  defends  himself— The  Walker  Tariff—  Congress  in  a  pet- 
Speech  at  the  Printer's  Festival — The  house  in  good  humor — Traveling  dead- 
head—Personal explanations — A  dry  haul — The  amendment  game — Congression- 
al dignity— Battle  of  the  Books— The  Recruiting  System— The  last  night  of  the 
Session— The  '  usual  gratuity'— The  Inauguration  Ball— Farewell  to  his  constitu- 
ents..  . 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ASSOCIATION     IN     THE     TEIBUNE     OFFICE. 

Accessions  to  the  corps— The  course  of  the  Tribune— Horace  Greeley  in  Ohio— The 
Rochester  knockings — The  mediums  at  Mr.  Greeley's  house — Jenny  Lind  goes  to 
see  them— Her  behavior— Woman's  Rights  Convention— The  Tribune  Associa- 
tion—The hireling  system 319 


CONTENTS.  XV11 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

ON     THE     P  L  A  T  F  O  E  M. — H  TNTS     TOWARDS     EEFOEMS. 

FAGS 

The  Lecture  System — Comparative  popularity  of  the  leading  Lecturers — Horace 
Greeley  at  the  Tabernacle— His  audience— His  appearance— His  manner  of  speak- 
ing— His  occasional  addresses — The  '  Hints '  published — Its  one  subject,  the 
Emancipation  of  Labor— The  Problems  of  the  Time— The  '  successful '  man— The 
duty  of  the  State— The  educated  class— A  narrative  for  workingmen— The  catas- 
trophe    326 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THEEE     MONTHS     IN     ETJEOPE. 

The  Voyage  out— First  impression  of  England— Opening  of  the  Exhibition— Char- 
acteristic observations — He  attends  a  grand  Banquet — He  sees  the  Sights — He 
speaks  at  Exeter  Hall— The  Play  at  Devonshire  House— Robert  Owen's  birth-day 
— Horace  Greeley  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons — He  throws 
light  upon  the  subject— Vindicates  tho  American  Press— Journey  to  Paris— The 
Sights  of  Paris— The  Opera  and  Ballet— A  false  Prophet— His  opinion  of  the 
French — Journey  to  Italy — Anecdote — A  nap  in  the  Diligence — Arrival  at  Rome 
—In  the  Galleries— Scene  in  the  Coliseum— To  England  again— Triumph  of  the 
American  Reaper— A  week  in  Ireland  and  Scotland— His  opinion  of  the  English 
— Homeward  Bound — His  arrival — The  Extra  Tribune 346 


CHAPTER  XXYI1. 

RECENTLY. 

Deliverance  from  Party— A  Private  Platform— Last  Interview  with  Henry  Clay— 
Horace  Greeley  a  Farmer — He  irrigates  and  drains — His  Advice  to  a  Young  Man 
— The  Daily  Times — A  costly  Mistake — The  Isms  of  the  Tribune — The  Tribune 
gets  Glory— The  Tribune  in  Parliament— Proposed  Nomination  for  Governor— 
His  Life  written— A  Judge's  Daughter  for  Sale 375 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

DAY     AND     NIGHT     IN     THE     TEIBUNE     OFFICE. 

The  streets  before  daybreak — Waking  the  newsboys— Morning  scene  in  the  press- 
room—The Compositor's  room— The  four  Phalanxes— The  Tribune  Directory— A 
lull  in  the  Tribune  office— A  glance  at  the  paper— The  advertisements— Tele- 
graphic marvels— Marine  Intelligence— New  Publications— Letters  from  the  peo- 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

pie — Editorial  articles — The  editorial  Rooms — The  Sanctum  Sanctorum — Solon 
Robinson— Bayard  Taylor— William  Henry  Fry— George  Ripley— Charles  A. 
Dana— F.  J.  Ottarson— George  M.  Snow— Enter  Horace  Greeley— His  Prelimin- 
ary botheration — The  composing-room  in  the  evening — The  editors  at  work — 
Mr.  Greeley's  manner  of  writing— Midnight— Three  o'clock  in  the  morning— The 
carriers .. .  391 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

POSITION     AND     INFLUENCE     OF     HORACE     GREELEY. 

At  the  head  of  his  Profession — Extent  of  his  Influence — Nature  of  his  Influence — 
A  Conservative-Radical— His  Practical  Suggestions— To  Aspiring  Young  Men- 
Have  a  Home  of  your  own — To  Young  Mechanics — Coming  to  the  City — A  La- 
bor-Exchange—Pay as  you  go— To  the  Lovers  of  Knowledge— To  Young  Orators 
— The  Colored  People — To  young  Lawyers  and  Doctors — To  an  inquiring  Slave- 
holder—To Country  Editors— In  Peace,  prepare  for  War— To  Country  Merchants 
—Tenement  Houses •.- 411 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

APPEARANCE  —  MANNERS  —  HABITS. 

His  person  and  countenance — Phrenological  developments — His  rustic  manners- 
Town  eccentricities— Horace  Greeley  in  Broadway— 'Horatius'  at  church— Horace 
Greeley  at  home. 421 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
CONCLUSION ..  434 


THE  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY, 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  OF  NEW   HAMPSHIEE. 

Londonderry  in  Ireland— The  Siege— Emigration  to  New  England— Settlement  of 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire — The  Scotch-Irish  introduce  the  culture  of  the 
potato  and  the  manufacture  of  linen— Character  of  the  Scotch-Irish— Their  sim- 
plicity— Love  of  fun — Stories  of  the  early  clergymen — Traits  in  the  Scotch- 
Irish  character— Zeal  of  the  Londonderrians  in  the  Revolution— Horace  Greeley's 
allusion  to  his  Scotch-Irish  ancestry. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  the  native  State  of  Horace  Greeley,  was  set- 
tled in  part  by  colonists  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and 
in  part  by  emigrants  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  latter  were 
called  Scotch-Irish,  for  a  reason  which  a  glance  at  their  history 
will  show. 

Ulster,  the  most  northern  of  the  four  provinces  of  Ireland,  has 
been,  during  the  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  superior  to  the 
rest  in  wealth  and  civilization.  The  cause  of  its  superiority  is 
known.  About  the  year  1612,  when  James  I.  was  king,  there  was 
a  rebellion  of  the  Catholics  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  Upon  its  sup- 
pression, Ulster,  embracing  the  six  northern  counties,  and  contain- 
ing half  a  million  acres  of  land,  fell  to  the  king  by  the  attainder 
of  the  rebels.  Under  royal  encouragement  and  furtherance,  a  com- 
pany was  formed  in  London  for  the  purpose  of  planting  colonies  in 
that  fertile  province,  which  lay  waste  from  the  ravages  of  the  re- 
cent war.  The  land  was  divided  into  shares,  the  largest  of  which 
did  not  exceed  two  thousand  acres.  Colonists  were  invited  over 
from  England  and  Scotland.  The  natives  were  expelled  from  their 
fastnesses  in  the  hills,  and  forced  to  settle  upon  the  plains.  Some 


20  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

efforts,  it  appears,  were  made  to  teach  them  arts  and  agriculture. 
Robbery  and  assassination  were  punished.  And,  thus,  by  the  in- 
fusion of  new  blood,  and  the  partial  improvement  of  the  ancient 
race,  Ulster,  which  had  been  the  most  savage  and  turbulent  of  the 
Irish  provinces,  became,  and  remains  to  this  day,  the  best  culti- 
vated, the  richest,  and  the  most  civilized. 

One  of  the  six  counties  was  Londonderry,  the  capital  of  which, 
called  by  the  same  name,  had  been  sacked  and  razed  during  the 
rebellion.  The  city  was  now  rebuilt  by  a  company  of  adventurers 
from  London,  and  the  county  was  settled  by  a  colony  from  Argyle- 
shire  in  Scotland,  who  were  thenceforth  called  Scotch-Irish.  Of 
what  stuff  these  Scottish  colonists  were  made,  their  after-history 
amply  and  gloriously  shows.  The  colony  took  root  and  flourished 
in  Londonderry.  In  1689,  the  year  of  the  immortal  siege,  the  city 
was  an  important  fortified  town  of  twenty-seven  thousand  .inhabit- 
ants, and  the  county  was  proportionally  populous  and  productive. 
William  of  Orange  had  reached  the  British  throne.  James  II.  re- 
turning from  France  had  landed  in  Ireland,  and  was  making  an 
effort  to  recover  his  lost  inheritance.  The  Irish  Catholics  were 
still  loyal  to  him,  and  hastened  to  rally  round  his  banner.  But 
Ulster  was  Protestant  and  Presbyterian ;  the  city  of  Londonderry 
was  Ulster's  stronghold,  and  it  was  the  chief  impediment  in  the 
way  of  James'  proposed  descent  upon  Scotland.  "With  what  reso- 
lution and  daring  the  people  of  Londonderry,  during  the  ever-mem- 
orable siege  of  that  city,  fought  and  endured  for  Protestantism  and 
freedom,  the  world  well  knows.  For  seven  months  they  held  out 
against  a  besieging  army,  so  numerous  that  its  slain  numbered  nine 
thousand.  The  besieged  lost  three  thousand  men.  To  such  ex- 
tremities were  they  reduced,  that  among  the  market  quotations  of 
the  times,  we  find  items  like  these: — a  quarter  of  a  dog,  five  shil- 
lings and  six-pence ;  a  dog's  head,  two  and  six-pence ;  horse-flesh, 
one  and  six-pence  per  pound ;  horse-blood,  one  shilling  per  quar.t ;  a 
cat,  four  and  six-peruce ;  a  rat,  one  shilling ;  a  mouse,  six-pence. 
"When  all  the  food  that  remained  in  the  city  was  nine  half-starved 
horses  and  a  pint  of  meal  per  man,  the  people  were  still  resolute. 
At  the  very  last  extremity,  they  were  relieved  by  a  provisioned 
fleet,  and  the  army  of  James  retired  in  despair. 

On  the  settlement  of  the  kingdom  under  William  and  Mary,  the 


EMIGRATION   TO   NEW   ENGLAND.  21 

Presbyterians  of  Londonderry  did  not  find  themselves  in  the  en- 
joyment of  the  freedom  to  which  they  conceived  themselves  enti- 
tled. They  were  dissenters  from  the  established  church.  Their 
pastors  were  not  recognized  by  the  law  as  clergymen,  nor  their 
places  of  worship  as  churches.  Tithes  were  exacted  for  the  support 
of  the  Episcopal  clergy.*  They  were  not  proprietors  of  the  soil, 
but  held  their  lands  as  tenants  of  the  crown.  They  were  hated 
"\  alike,  and  equally,  by  the  Irish  Catholics  and  the  English  Episcopa- 
lians. "When,  therefore,  in  1917,  a  son  of  one  of  the  leading  cler- 
gyman returned  from  ISTew  England  with  glowing  accounts  of  that 
'  plantation,'  a  furor  of  emigration  arose  in  the  town  and  county 
of  Londonderry,  and  portions  of  four  Presbyterian  congregations, 
with  their  four  pastors,  united  in  a  scheme  for  a  simultaneous  remo- 
val across  the  seas.  One  of  the  clergymen  was  first  despatched  to 
Boston  to  make  the  needful  inquiries  and  arrangements.  He  was 
the  bearer  of  an  address  to  "  His  Excellency,  the  Eight  Honorable 
Colonel  Samuel  Smith,  Governor  of  New  England,"  which  assured 
his  Excellency  of  "  our  sincere  and  hearty  inclination  to  transport 
ourselves  to  that  very  excellent  and  renowned  plantation,  upon  our 
obtaining  from  his  Excellency  suitable  encouragement."  To  this 
address,  the  original  of  which  still  exists,  two  hundred  and  seven 
names  were  appended,  and  all  but  seven  in  the  hand- writing  of  the 
individuals  signing — a  fact  which  proves  the  superiority  of  the  emi- 
grants to  the  majority  of  their  countrymen,  both  in  position  and 
intelligence.  One  of  the  subscribers  was  a  baronet,  nine  were  cler- 
gymen, and  three  others  were  graduates  of  the  University  of  Ed- 
inburgh. 

On  the  fourth  of  August,  1718,  the  advance  party  of  Scotch- 
Irish  emigrants  arrived  in  five  ships  at  Boston.  Some  of  them  re- 
mained in  that  city  and  founded  the  church  in  Federal  street,  of  which 
Dr.  Channing  was  afterwards  pastor.  Others  attempted  to  settle  in 
Worcester;  but  as  they  were  Irish  and  Presbyterians,  such  a 
storm  of  prejudice  against  them  arose  among  the  enlightened 
Congregationalists  of  that  place,  that  they  were  obliged  to  flee  be- 
fore it,  and  seek  refuge  in  the  less  populous  places  of  Massachusetts. 
Sixteen  families,  after  many  months  of  tribulation  and  wandering, 
selected  for  their  permanent  abode  a  tract  twelve  miles  square, 
called  Kutfield,  which  now  embraces  the  townships  of  London- 


22  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

deny,  Deny  and  Windham,  in  Rockingham  county,  New  Hamp- 
shire. The  land  was  a  free  gift  from  the  king,  in  consideration  of 
the  services  rendered  his  throne  by  the  people  of  Londonderry  in  the 
defence  of  their  city.  To  each  settler  was  assigned  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  a  house  lot,  and  an  out  lot  of  sixty 
acres.  The  lands  of  the  men  who  had  personally  served  during 
the  siege,  were  exempted  from  taxation,  and  were  known  down  to 
the  period  of  the  revolution  as  the  Exempt  Farms.  The  settle- 
ment of  Londonderry  attracted  new  emigrants,  and  it  soon  became 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  famous  in  the  colony. 

It  was  there  that  the  potato  was  first  cultivated,  and  there  that 
linen  was  first  made  in  New  England.  The  English  colonists  at  that 
day  appear  to  have  been  unacquainted  with  the  culture  of  the  po- 
tato, and  the  familiar  story  of  the  Andover  farmer  who  mistook  the 
balls  which  grow  on  the  potato  vine  for  the  genuine  fruit  of  the 
plant,  is  mentioned  by  a  highly  respectable  historian  of  New  Hamp- 
shire as  "  a  well-authenticated  fact." 

"With  regard  to  the  linen  manufacture,  it  may  be  mentioned  as  a 
proof  of  the  thrift  and  skill  of  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers,  that,  as  early 
as  the  year  1748,  the  linens  of  Londonderry  had  so  high  a  reputa- 
tion in  the  colonies,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  take  measures  to 
prevent  the  linens  made  in  other  towns  from  being  fraudulently  sold 
for  those  of  Londonderry  manufacture.  A  town  meeting  was  held 
in  that  year  for  the  purpose  of  appointing  "  fit  and  proper  persons 
to  survey  and  inspect  linens  and  hollands  made  in  the  town  for  sale, 
so  that  the  credit  of  our  manufactory  be  kept  up,  and  the  purchaser 
of  our  linens  may  not  be  imposed  upon  with  foreign  and  outlandish 
linens  in  the  name  of  ours."  Inspectors  and  sealers  were  accord- 
ingly appointed,  who  were  to  examine  and  stamp  "all  the  hollands 
made  and  to  be  made  in  our  town,  whether  brown,  white,  speckled, 
or  checked,  that  are  to  be  exposed  for  sale ;"  for  which  service  they 
were  empowered  to  demand  from  the  owner  of  said  linen  "  sixpence, 
old  tenor,  for  each  piece."  And  this  occurred  within  thirty  years 
from  the  erection  of  the  first  log-hut  in  the  township  of  London- 
derry. However,  the  people  had  brought  their  spinning  and  weav- 
ing implements  with  them  from  Ireland,  and  their  industry  was  not 
once  interrupted  by  an  attack  of  Indians. 

These  Scotch-Irish  of  Londonderry  were  a  very  peculiar  people. 


CHARACTER    OF   THE   SCOTCH-IRISH.  23 

They  were  Scotch-Irish  in  character  and  in  name ;  of  Irish  viva- 
city, generosity,  and  daring;  Scotch  in  frugality,  industry,  and  reso- 
lution ;  a  race  in  whose  composition  nature  seems,  for  once,  to  have 
kindly  blended  the  qualities  that  render  men  interesting  with  those 
that  render  them  prosperous.  Their  habits  and  their  minds  were 
simple.  They  lived,  for  many  years  after  the  settlement  began  to 
thrive,  upon  the  fish  which  they  caught  at  the  falls  of  Amoskeag, 
upon  game,  and  upon  such  products  of  the  soil  as  beans,  potatoes, 
samp,  and  barley.  It  is  only  since  the  year  1800  that  tea  and  coffee, 
those  ridiculous  and  effeminating  drinks,  came  into  anything  like 
general  use  among  them.  It  was  not  till  some  time  after  the  Eevo- 
lution  that  a  chaise  was  seen  in  Londonderry,  and  even  then  it  ex- 
cited great  wonder,  and  was  deemed  an  unjustifiable  extravagance. 
Shoes,  we  are  told,  were  little  worn  in  the  summer,  except  on  Sun- 
days and  holidays ;  and  then  they  were  carried  in  the  hand  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  church,  where  they  were  put  on  !  There  was 
little  buying  and  selling  among  them,  but  much  borrowing  and 
lending.  "  If  a  neighbor  killed  a  calf,"  says  one  writer,  "  no  part 
of  it  was  sold ;  but  it  was  distributed  among  relatives  and  friends, 
the  poor  widow  always  having  a  piece ;  and  the  minister,  if  he  did 
not  get  the  shoulder,  got  a  portion  as  good."  The  women  were  ro- 
bust, worked  on  the  farms  in  the  busy  seasons,  reaping,  mowing, 
and  even  ploughing  on  occasion;  and  the  hum  of  the  spinning- 
wheel  was  heard  in  every  house.  An  athletic,  active,  indomitable, 
prolific,  long-lived  race.  For  a  couple  to  have  a  dozen  children, 
and  for  all  the  twelve  to  reach  maturity,  to  marry,  to  have  large 
families,  and  die  at  a  good  old  age,  seems  to  have  been  no  uncom- 
mon case  among  the  original  Londonderrians. 

Love  of  fun  was  one  of  their  marked  characteristics.  One  of 
their  descendants,  the  Eev.  J.  H.  Morrison,  has  written — "  A  prom- 
inent trait  in  the  characte  r  of  the  Scotch-Irish  was  their  ready  wit. 
]*To  subject  was  kept  sacred  from  it ;  the  thoughtless,  the  grave,  the 
old,  and  the  young,  alike  enjoyed  it.  Our  fathers  were  serious, 
thoughtful  men,  but  they  lost  no  occasion  which  might  promise  sport. 
"Weddings,  huskings,  log-rollings  and  raisings — what  a  host  of  queer 
stories  is  connected  with  them !  Our  ancestors  dearly  loved  fun. 
There  was  a  grotesque  humor,  and  yet  a  seriousness,  pathos  and 
strangeness  about  them,  which  in  its  way  has,  perhaps,  never  been 


34  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

equalled.  It  was  the  sternness  of  the  Scotch  Covenanter,  softened 
by  a  century's  residence  abroad,  amid  persecution  and  trial,  wedded 
to  the  comic  humor  and  "pathos  of  the  Irish,  and  then  grown  wild 
in  the  woods  among  their  own  New  England  mountains." 

There  never  existed  a  people  at  once  so  jovial  and  so  religious. 
This  volume  could  be  filled  with  a  collection  of  their  religious  re- 
partees and  pious  jokes.  It  was  Pat.  Larkin,  a  Scotch-Irishman, 
near  Londonderry,  who,  when  he  was  accused  of  being  a  .Catholic, 
because  his  parents  were  Catholics,  replied :  "  If  a  man  happened 
to  be  born  in  a  stable,  would  that  make  him  a  horse  ?"  and  he  won 
his  bride  by  that  timely  spark. 

Quaint,  bold,  and  witty  were  the  old  Scotch-Irish  clergymen, 
the  men  of  the  siege,  as  mighty  with  carnal  weapons  as  with 
spiritual.  There  was  no  taint  of  the  sanctimonious  in  their  rough, 
honest,  and  healthy  natures.  During  the  old  French  war,  it  is  re- 
lated, a  British  officer,  in  a  peculiarly  "  stunning  "  uniform,  came 
one  Sunday  morning  to  the  Londonderry  Meeting  House.  Deeply 
conscious  was  this  individual  that  he  was  exceedingly  well  dressed 
and  he  took  pains  to  display  his  finery  and  his  figure  by  standing 
in  an  attitude,  during  the  delivery  of  the  sermon,  which  had  the 
effect  of  withdrawing  the  minds  of  the  young  ladies  from  the  same. 
At  length,  the  minister,  who  had  both  fought  and  preached  in 
Londonderry  '  at  home,'  and  feared  neither  man,  beast,  devil,  nor 
red-coat,  addressed  the  officer  thus  :  "  Ye  are  a  braw  lad ;  ye  ha'e 
a  braw  suit  of  claithes,  and  we  ha'e  a'  seen  them ;  ye  may  sit 
doun."  The  officer  subsided  instantly,  and  old  Dreadnought  went 
on  with  his  sermon  as  though  nothing  had  happened.  The  same 
clergyman  once  began  a  sermon  on  the  vain  self-confidence  of  St. 
Peter,  with  the  following  energetic  remarks :  "  Just  like  Peter,  aye, 
mair  forrit  than  wise,  ganging  swaggering  about  wi'  a  sword  at  his 
side ;  an'  a  puir  hand  he  made  of  it  when  he  came  to  the  trial ;  for 
he  only  cut  off  a  chiel's  lug,  an'  he  ought  to  ha?  split  down  his 
head.'1''  On  another  occasion,  he  is  said  to  have  opened  on  a  well- 
known  text  in  this  fashion  :  "  '  I  can  do  all  things ;'  ay,  can  ye 
Paul?  I'll  bet  ye  a  dollar  o'  that  (placing  a  dollar  on  the  desk). 
But  stop !  let 's  see  what  else  Paul  says :  '  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ,  which  strengtheneth  me ;'  ay,  sae  can  I,  Paul.  I 
draw  my  bet,"  and  he  returned  the  dollar  to  his  pocket.  They 


"TRAITS   ITS    THE    SCOTCH    CHARACTER.  25 

a  joke  sometimes,  those  Scotch-Irish  clergymen.  One  pastor, 
dining  with  a  new  settler,  who  had  no  table,  and  served  up  his 
•dinner  in  a  basket,  implored  Heaven  to  bless  the  man  "  in  his  basket, 
and  in  his  store;"  which  Heaven  did,  for  the  man  afterwards  grew 
rich.  w  What  is  the  difference,"  asked  a  youth,  "  between  the  Con- 
gregationalists  and  Presbyterians?"  "The  difference  is,"  replied 
the  pastor,  with  becoming  gravity,  "  that  the  Congregationalist 
goes  home  between  the  services  and  eats  a  regular  dinner ;  but  the 
Presbyterian  puts  off  his  till  after  meeting." 

And  how  pious  they  were !  For  many  years  after  the  settle- 
ment, the  omission  of  the  daily  act  of  devotion  in  a  single  household 
would  have  excited  general  alarm.  It  is  related  as  a  fact,  that 
the  first  pastor  of  Londonderry,  being  informed  one  evening  that 
an  individual  was  becoming  neglectful  of  family  worship,  imme- 
•diately  repaired  toliis  dwelling.  The  family  had  retired;  he  called 
up  the  master  of  the  house,  inquired  if  the  report  were  true,  and 
asked  him  whether  he  had  omitted  family  prayer  that  evening.  The 
man  confessed  that  he  had ;  and  the  pastor,  having  admonished  him 
;of  his  fault,  refused  to  leave  the  house  until  the  delinquent  had  called 
up  his  wife^  and  performed  with  her  the  omitted  observance.  The 
first  settlers  of  some  of  the  towns  near  Londonderry  walked  every 
Sunday  eight,  ten,  twelve  miles  to  church,  taking  their  children 
with  them,  and  crossing  the  Merrimac  in  a  canoe  or  on  a  raft. 
The  first  public  enterprises  of  every  settlement  were  the  building  of 
a  church,  the  construction  of  a  block-house  for  defense  against  the 
Indians,  and  the  establishment  of  a  school.  In  the  early  times  of 
course,  every  man  went  to  church  with  his  gun,  and  the  minister 
,preached  peace  and  good- will  with  a  loaded  musket  peering  above 
'the  sides  of  the  pulpit. 

The  Scotch-Irish  were  a  singularly  honest  people.  There  is  an 
•entry  in  the  town-record  for  1734,  of  a  complaint  against  John 
Morrison,  that,  having  found  an  axe  on  the  road,  he  did  not  leave 
it  at  the  next  tavern, '  as  the  laws  of  the  country  doth  require.'  John 
acknowledged  the  fact,  but  pleaded  in  extenuation,  that  the  axe 
was  of  so  small  value,  that  it  wrould  not  have  paid  the  cost  of  pro- 
claiming. The  session,  however,  censured  him  severely,  and  ex- 
horted him  to  repent  of  the  evil.  The  following  is  a  curious  extract 
from  the  records  of  a  Scotch-Irish  settlement  for  1756  :  "  Voted,  to 

2 


26  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

give  Mr.  John  Houston  equal  to  forty  pounds  sterling,  in  old  tenor, 
as  the  law  shall  find  the  rate  in  dollars  or  sterling  money,  for  his 
yearly  stipend,  if  he  is  our  ordni'  cd  minister.  And  what  number 
of  Sabbath  days,  annually,  we  shall  think  ourselves  not  able  to  pay 
him,  he  shall  have  at  his  own  use  and  disposal,  deducted  out  of  the 
aforesaid  sum  in  proportion."  The  early  records  of  those  settle- 
ments abound  in  evidence,  that  the  people  had  an  habitual  and 
most  scrupulous  regard  for  the  rights  of  one  another. 

Kind,  generous,  and  compassionate,  too,  they  were.  Far  back  in 
1725,  when  the  little  colony  was  but  seven  years  old,  and  the  people 
were  struggling  with  their  first  difficulties,  we  find  the  session  or- 
dering two  collections  in  the  church,  one  to  assist  James  Clark  to 
ransom  his  son  from  the  Indians,  which  produced  five  pounds,  and 
another  for  the  relief  of  William  Moore,  whose  two  cows  had  been 
killed  by  the  falling  of  a  tree,  which  produced  three  pounds,  seven- 
teen shillings.  These  were  great  sums  in  those  early  days.  We 
read,  also,  in  the  History  of  Londonderry,  of  MacGregor,  its  first 
pastor,  becoming  the  champion  and  defender  of  a  personal  enemy 
who  was  accused  of  arson,  but  whom  the  magnanimous  pastor 
believed  innocent.  He  volunteered  his  defense  in  court.  The  man 
was  condemned  and  imprisoned,  but  MacGregor  continued  his  ex- 
ertions in  behalf  of  the  prisoner  until  his  innocence  was  established 
and  the  judgment  was  reversed. 

That  they  were  a  brave  people  need  scarcely  be  asserted.  Of 
that  very  MacGregor  the  story  is  told,  that  when  he  went  out  at 
the  head  of  a  committee,  to  remonstrate  with  a  belligerent  party, 
who  were  unlawfully  cutting  hay  from  the  out-lands  of  London- 
derry, and  one  of  the  hay-stealers,  in  the  heat  of  dispute,  shook  his 
fist  in  the  minister's  face,  saying,  "  Nothing  saves  you,  sir,  but  your 
black  coat,"  MacGregor  instantly  exclaimed,  "  Well,  it  shan't  save 
you-,  sir,"  and  pulling  off  his  coat,  was  about  to  suit  the  action  to 
the  word,  when  the  enemy  beat  a  sudden  retreat,  and  troubled  the 
Londonderrians  no  more.  The  Scotch-Irish  of  New  Hampshire 
were  among  the  first  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution.  They 
confronted  British  troops,  and  successfully  too,  before  the  battle  of 
Lexington.  Four  English  soldiers  had  deserted  from  their  quarters 
in  Boston,  and  taken  refuge  in  Londonderry.  A  party  of  troops, 
dispatched  for  their  arrest,  discovered,  secured,  and  conveyed  them 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  ALLUSION  TO  HIS  ANCESTRY.          27 

part  of  the  way  to  Boston.  A  band  of  young  men  assembled  and 
pursued  them  ;  and  so  overawed  the  British  officer  by  the  boldness 
of  their  demeanor,  that  he  gave  up  his  prisoners,  who  were  escorted 
back  to  Londonderry  in  triumph.  There  were  remarkably  few 
tories  in  Londonderry.  The  town  was  united  almost  as  one  man 
on  the  side  of  Independence,  and  sent,  it  is  believed,  more  men  to 
the  war,  and  contributed  more  money  to  the  cause,  than  any  other 
town  of  equal  resources  in  New  England.  Here  are  a  few  of  the 
town-meeting  "votes"  of  the  first  months  of  the  war:  "  Voted,  to 
give  our  men  that  have  gone  to  the  Massachusetts  government 
seven  dollars  a  month,  until  it  be  known  what  Congress  will  do  in 
that  affair,  and  that  the  officers  shall  have  as  much  pay  as  those  in 
the  Bay  government." — "  Voted,  that  a  committee  of  nine  men  be 
chosen  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  those  men  that  are  thought 
not  to  be  friends  of  their  country." — "  Voted,  that  the  aforesaid  com- 
mittee have  no  pay." — "  Voted,  that  twenty  more  men  be  raised  im- 
mediately, to  be  ready  upon  the  first  emergency,  as  minute  men." — 
"  Voted,  that  twenty  more  men  be  enlisted  in  Oapt.  Aiken's  com- 
pany, as  minute  men." — "  Voted,  that  the  remainder  of  the  stock  of 
powder  shall  be  divided  out  to  every  one  that  hath  not  already  re- 
ceived of  the  same,  as  far  as  it  will  go  ;  provided  he  produces  a  gun 
of  his  own,  in  good  order,  and  is  willing  to  go  against  the  enemy, 
and  promises  not  to  waste  any  of  the  powder,  only  in  self-defense ; 
and  provided,  also,  that  he  show  twenty  goo*  bullets  to  suit  his 
gun,  and  six  good  flints."  In  1777  the  town  gave  a  bounty  of 
thirty  pounds  for  every  man  who  enlisted  for  three  years.  All  the 
records  and  traditions  of  the  revolutionary  period  breathe  unity  and 
determination.  Stark,  tho  hero  of  Bennington,  was  a  London- 
derrian. 

Such  were  the  Scotch-Irish  of  New  Hampshire ;  of  such  material 
were  the  maternal  ancestors  of  Horace  Greeley  composed ;  and 
from  his  maternal  ancestors  he  derived  much  that  distinguishes  him 
from  men  in  general. 

In  the  "New  Yorker"  for  August  28,  1841,  he  alluded  to  his 
Scotch-Irish  origin  in  a  characteristic  way.  Noticing  Charlotte 
Elizabeth's  "  Siege  of  Derry,"  he  wrote  : 

"We  do  not  like  this  work,  and  we  choose  to  say  so  frankly. 
What  is  the  use  of  reviving  and  aggravating  these  old  stories  (alas ! 


28  THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    OF   NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

how  true  !)  of  scenes  in  which  Christians  of  diverse  creeds  have  tor- 
tured and  butchered  each  other  for  the  glory  of  God  ?  We  had  an- 
cestors in  that  same  Siege  of  Derry, — on  the  Protestant  side,  of 
course, — and  our  sympathies  are  all  on  that  side;  but  we  cannot 
forget  that  intolerance  and  persecution — especially  in  Ireland — are 
by  no  means  exclusively  Catholic  errors  and  crimes.  Who  perse- 
cutes in  Ireland  now  ?  On  what  principle  of  Christian  toleration 
are  the  poor  man's  pig  and  potatoes  wrested  from  him  to  pay  tithes 
to  a  church  he  abhors?  We  do  hope  the  time  is  soon  coming  when 
man  will  no  more  persecute  his  brother  for  a  difference  of  faith ; 
but  that  time  will  never  be  hastened  by  the  publication  of  such 
books  as  the  Siege  of  Derry." 


CHAPTER  II. 

ANCESTORS. — PAKENTAGE. — BIETH. 

Origin  of  the  Family — Old  Captain  Ezekiel  Greeley — Zaccheus  Greeley — Zaccheus 
the  Second— Roughness  and  Tenacity  of  the  Greeley  race- -Maternal  Ancestors  of 
Horace  Greeley— John  Woodburn— Character  of  Horace  Greeley's  Great-grand- 
motheip-His  Grandmother— Romantic  Incident— Horace  Greeley  is  born  "as  black 
as  a  chimney" — Comes  to  his  color — Succeeds  to  the  name  of  Horace. 

THE  name  of  Greeley  is  an  old  and  not  uncommon  one  in  New 
England.  It  is  spelt  Greeley,  Greely,  Greale,  and  Greele,  but  all 
who  bear  the  name  in  this  country  trace  their  origin  to  the  same 
source. 

The  tradition  is,  that  very  early  in  the  history  of  New  England — 
probably  as  early  as  1650 — three  brothers,  named  Greeley,  emigrat- 
ed from  the  neighborhood  of  Nottingham,  England.  One  of  them 
is  supposed  to  have  settled  finally  in  Maine,  another  in  Rhode 
Island,  the  third  in  Massachusetts.  All  the  Greeleys  in  New  Eng- 
land have  descended  from  these  three  brothers,  and  the  branch  of 
the  family  with  which  we  have  to  do,  from  him  who  settled  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. Eespecting  the  condition  and  social  rank  of  these  broth- 
ers, their  occupation  and  character,  tradition  is  silent.  But  from 


CAPTAIN  EZEKIEL  GREELEY.  29 

the  fact  that  no  coat-of-arms  has  been  preserved  or  ever  heard  of 
by  any  member  of  the  family,  and  from  the  occupation  of  the  ma- 
jority of  their  descendants,  it  is  plausibly  conjectured  that  they 
wore  farmers  of  moderate  means  and  of  the  middle  class. 

Tradition  further  hints  that  the  name  of  the  brother  who  found 
a  home  in  Massachusetts  was  Benjamin,  that  he  was  a  farmer,  that 
lie  lived  in  Haveril,  a  township  bordering  on  the  south-eastern  cor- 
ner of  New  Hampshire,  that  he  prospered  there,  and  died  respected 
by  all  who  knew  him  at  a  good  old  age.  So  far,  tradition.  "We 
now  draw  from  the  memory  of  individuals  still  living. 

The  son  of  Benjamin  Greeley  was  Ezekiel,  "old  Captain  Ezekiel," 
who  lived  and  greatly  flourished  at  Hudson,  New  Hampshire,  and  is 
well  remembered  there,  and  in  all  the  region  round  about.  The  cap- 
tain was  not  a  military  man.  He  was  half  lawyer,  half  farmer.  He 
was  a  sharp,  cunning,  scheming,  cool-headed,  cold-hearted  man,  one 
who  lived  by  his  wits,  who  always  got  his  cases,  always  succeeded  in 
his  plans,  always  prospered  in  his  speculations,  and  grew  rich  without 
ever  doing  a  day's  work  in  his  life.  He  is  remembered  by  his  grand- 
sons, who  saw  him  in  their  childhood,  as  a  black-eyed,  black-haired, 
heavy-browed,  stern-looking  man,  of  complexion  almost  as  dark  as 
that  of  an  Indian,  and  not  unlike  an  Indian  in  temper.  "  A  cross 
old  dog,"  "  a  hard  old  knot,"  u  as  cunning  as  Lucifer,"  are  among 
the  complimentary  expressions  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  descend- 
ants. "  All  he  had,"  says  one,  "  was  at  the  service  of  the  rich,  but 
he  was  hard  upon  the  poor."  "  His  religion  was  nominally  Bap- 
tist," says  another,  "but  really  to  get  money."  "He  got  all  he 
could,  and  saved  all  he  got,"  chimes  in  a  third.  He  died,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five,  with  "  all  his  teeth  sound,"  and  worth  three  hundred 
acres  of  good  land.  He  is  spoken  of  with  that  sincere  respect  which, 
in  New  England,  seems  never  to  be  denied  to  a  very  smart  man, 
who  succeeds  by  strictly  legal  means  in  acquiring  property,  however 
wanting  in  principle,  however  destitute  of  feeling,  that  man  may 
be.  Happily,  the  wife  of  old  Captain  Ezekiel  was  a  gentler  and 
better  being  than  her  husband. 

And,  therefore,  Zaccheus,  the  son  of  old  Captain  Ezekiel,  was  a 
gentler  and  better  man  than  his  father.  Zaccheus  inherited  part  of 
his  father's  land,  and  was  a  farmer  all  the  days  of  his  life.  He  was 
not,  it  appears,  "  too  fond  of  work,"  though  far  more  industrious 


30  ANCESTORS. PARENTAGE.-— BIRTH. 

than  his  father ;  a  man  who  took  life  easily,  of  strict  integrity, 
kind-hearted,  gentle-mannered,  not  ill  to  do  in  the  world,  but  not 
what  is  called  in  New  England  "  'fore-handed."  He  is  remembered 
in  the  neighborhood  where  he  lived  chiefly  for  his  extraordinary 
knowledge  of  the  Bible.  He  could  quote  texts  more  readily,  cor- 
rectly, and  profusely  than  any  of  his  neighbors,  laymen  or  clergy- 
men. He  had  the  reputation  of  knowing  the  whole  Bible  by  heart. 
He  was  a  Baptist ;  and  all  who  knew  him  unite  in  declaring  that  a 
worthier  man  never  lived  than  Zaccheus  Greeley.  He  had  a  large 
family,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-five. 

His  eldest  son  was  named  Zaccheus  also,  and  he  is  the  father  of 
Horace  Greeley.  He  is  still  living,  and  cultivates  an  ample  domain 
in  Erie  County,  Pennsylvania,  acquired  in  part  by  his  own  arduous 
labors,  in  part  by  the  labors  of  his  second  son,  and  in  part  by  the 
liberality  of  his  eldest  son  Horace.  At  this  time,  in  the  seventy- 
third  year  of  his  age,  his  form  is  as  straight,  his  step  as  decided, 
his  constitution  nearly  as  firm,  and  his  look  nearly  as  young,  as 
though  he  were  in  the  prime  of  life. 

All  the  Greeleys  that  I  have  seen  or  heard  described,  are  persons 
of  marked  and  peculiar  characters.  Many  of  them  are  "  charac- 
ters" The  word  which  perhaps  best  describes  the  quality  for 
which  they  are  distinguished  is  tenacity.  They  are,  as  a  race,  tena- 
cious of  life,  tenacious  of  opinions  and  preferences,  of  tenacious 
memory,  and  tenacious  of  their  purposes.  One  member  of  the 
family  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years;  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  early  generations  lived  more  than  three 
score  years  and  ten.  Few  of  the  name  have  been  rich,  but  most 
have  been  persons  of  substance  and  respectability,  acquiring  their 
property,  generally,  by  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  a  soil,  too, 
which  does  not  yield  its  favors  to  the  sluggard.  It  is  the  boast 
of  those  members  of  the  family  who  have  attended  to  its  geneal- 
ogy, that  no  Greeley  was  ever  a  prisoner,  a  pauper,  or,  worse  than 
either,  a  tory  !  Two  of  Horace  Greeley's  great  uncles  perished  at 
Bennington,  and  he  was  fully  justified  in  his  assertion,  made  in  the 
heat  of  the  Koman  controversy  a  few  years  ago,  that  he  was  "born 
of  republican  parentage,  of  an  ancestry  which  participated  vividly 
in  the  hopes  and  fears,  the  convictions  and  eiforts  of  the  American 
Revolution."  And  he  added :  "  We  cannot  disavow  nor  prove  rec- 


TOUGHNESS  OF  THE  GREELEY  RACE.  31 

reant  to  the  principles  on  which  that  Revolution  was  justified — on 
•which  only  it  can  be  justified.  If  adherence  to  these  principles 
makes  us  'the  unmitigated  enemy  of  Pius  IX.,'  we  regret  the  en- 
mity, but  cannot  abjure  our  principles." 

The  maiden  name  of  Horace  Greeley's  mother  was  Woodburn, 
Mary  "Woodburn,  of  Londonderry. 

The  founder  of  the  "Woodburn  family  in  this  country  was  John 
Woodburn,  who  emigrated  from  Londonderry  in  Ireland,  to  London- 
derry in  New  Hampshire,  about  the  year  1725,  seven  years  after  the 
settlement  of  the  original  sixteen  families.  He  came  over  with  his 
brother  David,  who  was  drowned  a  few  years  after,  leaving  a  fam- 
ily. Neither  of  the  brothers  actually  served  in  the  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry ;  they  were  too  young  for  that ;  but  they  were  both  men 
of  the  true  Londonderry  stamp,  men  with  a  good  stroke  in  their 
arms,  a  merry  twinkle  in  their  eyes,  indomitable  workers,  and  not 
more  brave  in  fight  than  indefatigable  in  frolic ;  fair-haired  men 
like  all  their  brethren,  and  gall-less. 

John  Woodburn  obtained  the  usual  grant  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land,  besides  the  "  out-lot  and  home-lot "  before 
alluded  to,  and  he  took  root  in  Londonderry  and  flourished.  Ho 
was  twice  married,  and  was  the  father  of  two  sons  and  nine  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  (as  children  did  in  those  healthy  times)  lived  to 
maturity,  and  all  but  one  married.  John  Woodburn's  second  wife, 
from  whom  Horace  Greeley  is  descended,  was  a  remarkable  wo- 
man. Mr.  Greeley  has  borne  this  testimony  to  her  worth  and  in^ 
fluence,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  which  some  years  ago  escaped  into 
print :  "  I  think  I  am  indebted  for  my  first  impulse  toward  intel- 
lectual acquirement  and  exertion  to  my  mother's  grandmother,  who 
came  out  from  Ireland  among  the  first  settlers  in  Londonderry. 
She  must  have  been  well  versed  in  Irish  and  Scotch  traditions, 
pretty  well  informed  and  strong  minded ;  and  my  mother  being  left 
motherless  when  quite  young,  her  grandmother  exerted  great  influ- 
ence over  her  mental  development.  I  was  a  third  child,  the  two 
preceding  having  died  young,  and  I  presume  my  mother  was  the 
more  attached  to  me  on  that  ground,  and  the  extreme  feebleness  of 
my  constitution.  My  mind  was  early  filled  by  her  with  the  tradi- 
tions, ballads,  and  snatches  of  history  she  had  learned  from  her 
grandmother,  which,  though  conveying  very  distorted  and  incorrect 


32  ANCESTORS. PAREHTAOE. BIRTBT. 

ideas  of  history,  yet  served  to  awaken  in  me  a  thirst  for  knowledge 
and  a  lively  interest  in  learning  and  history."  John  Woodburn  died 
in  1780.  Mrs.  Woodburn,  the  subject  of  the  passage  just  quoted,, 
survived  her  husband  many  years,  lived  to  see  her  children's  grand- 
children, and  to  acquire  throughout  the  neighborhood  the  familiar 
title  of  "  Granny  Woodburn." 

David  Woodburn,  the  grandfather  of  Horace  Greeley,  was  the- 
eldest  son  of  John  Woodburn,  and  the  inheritor  of  his  estate.  He- 
married  Margaret  Clark,  a  granddaughter  of  that  Mrs.  Wilson,  the- 
touching  story  of  whose  deliverance  from  pirates  was  long  a  favor- 
ite tale  at  the  firesides  of  the  early  settlers  of  New  Hampshire.- 
In  1720,  a  ship  containing  a  company  of  Irish  emigrants  bound  to 
New  England  was  captured  by  pirates,  and  while  the  ship  was  in. 
their  possession,  and  the  fate  of  the  passengers  still  undecided,  Mrs, 
Wilson,  one  of  the  company,  gave  birth  to  her  first  child.  The  cir- 
cumstance so  moved  the  pirate  captain,  AV!IO  was  himself  a  husband 
and  a  father,  that  he  permitted  the  emigrants  to  pursue  their  voyage 
unharmed.  He  bestowed  upon  Mrs.  Wilson  some  valuable  pres- 
ents, among  others  a  silk  dress,  pieces  of  which  are  still  preserved' 
among  her  descendants  ;  and  he  obtained  from  her  a  promise  that 
she  would  call  the  infant  by  the  name  of  his  wife.  The  ship* 
reached  its  destination  in  safety,  and  the  day  of  its  deliverance  from 
the  hands  of  the  pirates  was  annually  observed  as  a  day  of  thanks- 
giving by  the  passengers  for  many  years.  Mrs.  Wilson,  after  the- 
death  of  her  first  husband,  became  the  wife  of  James  Clark,  whose 
son  John  was  the  father  of  Mrs.  David  Woodburn,  whose  daugh- 
ter Mary  was  the  mother  of  Horace  Greeley. 

The  descendants  of  John  Woodburn  are  exceedingly  numerous, 
and  contribute  largely,  says  Mr.  Parker,  the  historian  of  London- 
derry, to  the  hundred  thousand  who  are  supposed  to  have  de- 
scended from  the  early  settlers  of  the  town.  The  grandson  of  John 
Woodburn,  a  very  genial  and  jovial  gentleman,  still  owns  and  tills 
the  land  originally  granted  to  the  family.  At  the  old  homestead,, 
about  the  year  1807,  Zacclieus  Greeley  and  Mary  Woodburn  were- 
married. 

Zaccheus  Greeley  inherited  nothing  from  his  father,  and  Mary 
Woodburn  received  no  more  than-  the  usual  household  portion  from 
hers.  Zaccheus,  as  the  sons  of  New  England  farmers  usually  do,. 


HORACE  GREELEY  IS  BORN  BLACK.  33 

or  did  in  those  days,  went  out  to  work  as  soon  as  he  was  old 
enough  to  do  a  day's  work.  He  saved  his  earnings,  and  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year  was  the  owner  of  a  farm  in  the  town  of  Amherst, 
Hillsborough  county,  New  Hampshire. 

There,  on  the  third  of  February,  1811,  Horace  Greeley  was  born. 
He  is  the  third  of  seven  children,  of  whom  the  two  elder  died  be- 
fore he  was  born,  and  the  four  younger  are  still  living. 

The  mode  of  his  entrance  upon  the  stage  of  the  world  was,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  unusual.  The  effort  was  almost  too  much  for 
him,  and,  to  use  the  language  of  one  who  was  present,  "  he  came 
into  the  world  as  black  as  a  chimney."  There  were  no  signs  of 
life.  He  uttered  no  cry  ;  he  made  no  motion  ;  he  did  not  breathe. 
But  the  little  discolored  stranger  had  articles  to  write,  and  was  not 
permitted  to  escape  his  destiny.  In  this  alarming  crisis  of  his  exist- 
ence, a  kind-hearted  and  experienced  aunt  came  to  his  rescue,  and 
by  arts,  which  to  kind-hearted  and  experienced  aunts  are  well 
known,  but  of  which  the  present  chronicler  remains  in  ignorance, 
the  boy  was  brought  to  life.  He  soon  began  to  breathe ;  then  he 
began  to  blush  ;  and  by  the  time  he  had- attained  the  age  of  twenty 
minutes,  lay  on  his  mother's  arm,  a  red  and  smiling  infant. 

In  due  time,  the  boy  received  the  name  of  Horace.  There  had 
been  another  little  Horace  Greeley  before  him,  but  he  had  died  in 
infancy,  and  his  parents  wished  to  preserve  in  their  seoond  son  a 
living  memento  of  their  first.  The  name  was  not  introduced  into 
the  family  from  any  partiality  on  the  part  of  his  parents  for  the 
Roman  poet,  but  because  his  father  had  a  relative  so  named,  and 
because  the  mother  had  read  the  name  in  a  book  and  liked  the 
sound  of  it.  The  sound  of  it,  however,  did  not  often  regale  the 
maternal  ear ;  for,  in  New  England,  where  the  name  of  the  courtly 
satirist  is  frequently  given,  its  household  diminutive  is  "  Hod ;"  and 
by  that  elegant  monosyllable  the  boy  was  commonly  called  among 
his  juvenile  friends. 

2* 


CHAPTER    III. 

EARLY      CHILDHOOD. 

The  Village  of  Amherst — Character  of  the  adjacent  country — The  Greeley  farm— 
The  Tribune  in  the  room  in  which  its  Editor  was  born — Horace  learns  to  read- 
Book  up-side  down — Goes  to  school  in  Londonderry — A  district  school  forty 
years  ago — Horace  as  a  young  orator — Has  a  mania  for  spelling  hard  words — Gets 
great  glory  at  the  spelling  school— Recollections  of  his  surviving  schoolfellows— 
His  future  eminence  foretold — Delicacy  of  ear — Early  choice  of  a  trade — His 
courage  and  timidity— Goes  to  school  in  Bedford— A  favorite  among  his  school- 
fellows—His early  fondness  for  the  village  newspaper— Lies  in  ambush  for  the 
post-rider  who  brought  it — Scours  the  country  for  books — Project  of  sending  him 
to  an  academy — The  old  sea-captain — Horace  as  a  farmer's  boy — Let  us  do  our 
stint  first— His  way  of  fishing. 

AMHEEST  is  the  county  town  of  Hillsborough,  one  of  the  three 
counties  of  New  Hampshire  which  are  bounded  on  the  South  by 
the  State  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  forty-two  miles  north-west  of 
Boston. 

The  village  of  Amherst  is  a  pleasant  place.  Seen  from  the  summit 
of  a  distant  hill,  it  is  a  white  dot  in  the  middle  of  a  level  plain,  en- 
circled by  cultivated  and  gently- sloping  hills.  On  a  nearer  ap- 
proach the  traveler  perceives  that  it  is  a  cluster  of  white  houses, 
looking  as  if  they  had  alighted  among  the  trees  and  might  take  to 
wing  again.  6n  entering  it  he  finds  himself  in  a  very  pretty  vil- 
lage, built  round  an  ample  green  and  shaded  by  lofty  trees.  It  con- 
tains three  churches,  a  printing-office,  a  court-house,  a  jail,  a 
tavern,  half  a  dozen  stores,  an  exceedingly  minute  watchmaker's 
shop,  and  a  hundred  private  houses.  There  is  not  a  human  being 
to  be  seen,  nor  a  sound  to  be  heard,  except  the  twittering  of  birds 
overhead,  and  the  distant  whistle  of  a  locomotive,  which  in  those 
remote  regions  seems  to  make  the  silence  audible.  The  utter 
silence  and  the  deserted  aspect  of  the  older  villages  in  New  Eng- 
land are  remarkable.  In  the  morning  and  evening  there  is 
some  appearance  of  life  in  Amherst ;  but  in  the  hours  of  the  day 
when  the  men  are  at  work,  the  women  busy  with  their  household 
affairs,  and  the  children  at  school,  the  visitor  may  sit  at  the  win- 


AMHERST. 


35 


dow  of  the  village  tavern  for  an  hou^t  a  time  and  not  see  a  living 
creature.  Occasionally  a  pedler.,  "with  sleigh  bells  round  his  horse, 
goes  jingling  by.  Occasional^  a  farmer's  wagon  drives  up  to  one  of 
the  stores.  Occasionally^  stage,  rocking  in  its  leather  suspenders, 
stops  at  the  post-office  for  a  moment,  and  then  rocks  away  again. 
Occasionally  a  doctor  passes  in  a  very  antiquated  gig.  Occasion- 
ally a  cock  crows,  as  though  he  were  tired  of  the  dead  silence.  A 
New  York  village,  a  quarter  the  size  and  wealth  of  Amherst,  makes 
twice  its  nofse  and  bustle.  Forty  years  ago,  however,  when  Horace 
Greeley  used  to  come  to  the  stores  there,  it  was  a  place  of  some- 
what more  importance  and  more  business  than  it  is  now,  for  Man- 
chester and  Nashua  have  absorbed  many  of  the  little  streams  of 
traffic  which  used  to  flow  towards  the  county  town.  •  It  is  a  curious 
evidence  of  the  stationary  character  of  the  place,  that  the  village 
paper,  which  had  fifteen  hundred  subscribers  when  Horace  Greeley 
was  three  years  old,  and  learned  to  read  from  it,  has  fifteen  hundred 
subscribers,  and  no  more,  at  this  moment.  It  bears  the  same  name 
it  did  then,  is  published  by  the  same  person,  and  adheres  to  the 
same  party. 

The  township  of  Amherst  contains  about  eight  square  miles  of  some- 
what better  land  than  the  land  of  New  England  generally  is.  "Wheat 
cannot  be  grown  on  it  to  advantage,  but  it  yields  fair  returns  of 
rye,  oats,  potatoes,  Indian  corn,  and  young  men  :  the  last-named  of 
which  commodities  forms  the  chief  article  of  export.  The  farmers 
have  to  contend  against  hills,  rocks,  stones  innumerable,  sand, 
marsh,  and  long  winters;  but  a  hundred  years  of  tillage  have  sub- 
dued these  obstacles  in  part,  and  the  people  generally  enjoy  a  safe 
and  moderate  prosperity.  Yet  severe  is  their  toil.  To  see  them 
ploughing  along  the  sides  of  those  steep  rocky  hills,  the  plough 
creaking,  the  oxen  groaning,  the  little  boy-driver  leaping  from  sod 
to  sod,  as  an  Alpine  boy  is  supposed  to  leap  from  crag  to  crag,  the 
ploughman  wrenching  the  plough  round  the  rocks,  boy  and  man 
every  minute  or  two  uniting  in  a  prolonged  and  agonizing  yell  for 
the  panting  beasts  to  stop,  when  the  plough  is  caught  by  a  hidden 
rock  too  large  for  it  to  overturn,  and  the  solemn  slowness  with 
which  the  procession  winds,  and  creaks,  and  groans  along,  gives  to 
the  languid  citizen,  who  chances  to  pass  by,  a  new  idea  of  hard 
work,  and  a  new  sense  of  the  happiness  of  his  lot. 


EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

The  farm  owned:  by  Zaccheus  Greeley  when  his  son  Horace  was 
born,  was  four  or  five  miles  from  the  village  of  Amherst.  It  con- 
sisted of  eighty  acres  of  land — heavy  land  to  till — roeky,  moistT 
and  uneven,  worth  then  eight  hundred  dollars,  now  two  thousand.. 
The  house,  a  small,  unpaintedr  but  substantial  and  well-built  farm- 
house, stood,  and  still  stands,  upon  a  ledge  or  platform,  half  way 
up  a  high,  steep,  and  rocky  hill,  commanding  an  extensive  and  al* 
most  panoramic  view  of  the  surrounding  country.  Iu  whatever 
direction  the  boy  may  have  looked,  he  saw  rock.  Sock  is  the 
feature  of  the  landscape.  There  is  rock  in  tbe  old  orchard  behind 
the  house  ;  rocks  peep  out  from  the  grass  in  the  pastures;  there  is 
rock  along  the  road  ;  rock  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  ;  rock  on  their 
summits ;  rock  in  the  valleys  ;  rock  in  the  woods ;, — rock,  rock,, 
everywhere  rock.  And  yet  the  country  has  not  a  barren  look.  I 
should  call  it  a  serious  looking  country  ;  one  that  would  be  congenial 
to  grim  covenanters  and  exiled  round-heads.  The  prevailing  colors 
are  dark,  even  in  the  brightest  month  of  the  year.  The  pine  woods, 
the  rock,  the  shade  of  the  hill,  the  color  of  the  soil,  are  all  dark 
and  serious.  It  is  a  still,  unfrequented  region.  One  may  ride  along 
the  road  upon  which  the  house  stands,  for  many  a  mile,  without 
passing  a  single  vehicle.  The  turtles  hobble  across  the  road  fear- 
less of  the  crushing  wheel.  If  any  one  wished  to  know  the  full 
meaning  of  the  word  country,  as  distinguished  from  the  word  townf 
he  need  do  no  more  than  ascend  the  hill  on  which  Horace  Greeley 
saw  the  light,  and  look  around.  -  *<.: 

Yet,  the  voice  of  the  city  is  heard  even  there ;  the  opinions  of 
the  city  influence  there;  for, observe,  in  the  very  room  in  which 
our  hero  was  born,  on  a  table  which  stands  where,  in  other  days,  a 
bed  stood,  we  recognize,  among  the  heap  of  newspapers,  the  well- 
known  heading  of  the  WEEKLY  TKIBUNE. 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  region  in  which  Horace  Greeley 
passed  the  greater  part  of  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life.  His 
father's  neighbors  were  all  hard-working  farmers — men  who  work- 
ed their  own  farms — who  were  nearly  equal  in  wealth,  and  to  whom 
the  idea  of  social  inequality,  founded  upon  an  inequality  in  possess- 
ions, did  not  exist,  even  as  an  idea.  Wealth  and  want  were  alike 
unknown.  It  was  a  community  of  plain  people,  who  had  derived 
all  their  book-knowledge  from  the  district  school,  and  depended 


HORACE  LEARNS  TO  READ.  37 

upon  the  village  newspaper  for  their  knowledge  of  the  world  with- 
out. There  were  no  heretics  among  them.  All  the  people  either 
cordially  embraced,  or  undoubtingly  assented  to  the  faith  called 
Orthodox,  and  all  of  them  attended,  more  or  less  regularly,  the 
churches  in  which  that  faith  was  expounded. 

The  first  great  peril  of  his  existence  escaped,  the  boy  grew  apace, 
and  passed  through  the  minor  and  ordinary  dangers  of  infancy  with- 
out having  his  equanimity  seriously  disturbed.  He  was  a  "  quiet 
and  peaceable  child,"  reports  his  father,  and  though  far  from  robust, 
suffered  little  from  actual  sickness. 

To  say  that  Horace  Greeley,  from  the  earliest  months  of  his  exist- 
ence, manifested  signs  of  extraordinary  intelligence,  is  only  to  repeat 
what  every  biographer  asserts  of  his  hero,  and  every  mother  of  her 
child.  Yet,  common-place  as  it  is,  the  truth  must  be  told.  Horace 
Greeley  did,  as  a  very  young  child,  manifest  signs  of  extraordinary 
intelligence.  He  took  to  learning  with  the  promptitude  and  in- 
stinctive, irrepressible  love,  with  which  a  duck  is  said  to  take  to  the 
water.  His  first  instructor  was  his  mother ;  and  never  was  there 
a  mother  better  calculated  to  awaken  the  mind  of  a  child,  and 
keep  it  awake,  than  Mrs.  Greeley. 

Tall,  muscular,  well-formed,  with  the  strength  of  a  man  without 
his  coarseness,  active  in  her  habits,  not  only  capable  of  hard  work, 
but  delighting  in  it,  with  a  perpetual  overflow  of  animal  spirits,  an 
exhaustless  store  of  songs,  ballads  and  stories,  and  a  boundless,  ex- 
uberant good  will  towards  all  living  things,  Mrs.  Greeley  was  the 
life  of  the  house,  the  favorite  of  the  neighborhood,  the  natural 
friend  and  ally  of  children ;  whatever  she  did  she  did  "  with  a  will." 
She  was  a  great  reader,  and  remembered  all  she  read.  "She 
worked,"  says  one  of  my  informants,  "  in  doors  and  out  of  door, 
could  out-rake  any  man  in  the  town,  and  could  load  the  hay-wag- 
ons as  fast  and  as  well  as  her  husband.  She  hoed  in  the  garden ; 
she  labored  in  the  field ;  and  while  doing  more  than  the  work  of  an 
ordinary  man,  and  an  ordinary  woman  combined,  would  laugh  and 
sing  all  day  long,  and  tell  stories  all  the  evening." 

To  these  stories  the  boy  listened  greedily,  as  he  sat  on  the  floor 
at  her  feet,  while  she  spun  and  talked  with  equal  energy.  They 
"  served,"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  in  a  passage  already  quoted,  "  to  awaken 
in  me  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  a  lively  interest  in  learning  and 


88  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

history."  Think  of  it,  you  word-mongering,  gerund-grinding 
teachers  who  delight  in  signs  and  symbols,  and  figures  and  "  facts," 
and  feed  little  children's  souls  on  the  dry,  innutricious  husks  of 
knowledge  ;  and  think  of  it,  you  play-abhorring,  fiction-forbidding 
parents !  Awaken  the  interest  in  learning,  and  the  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge, and  there  is  no  predicting  what  may  or  what  may  not  result 
from  it.  Scarcely  a  man,  distinguished  for  the  supremacy  or  the 
beauty  of  his  immortal  part,  has  written  the  history  of  his  childhood, 
without  recording  the  fact,  that  the  celestial  fire  was  first  kindled 
in  his  soul  by  means  similar  to  those  which  awakened  an  "  interest 
in  learning"  and  a  "  thirst  for  knowledge"  in  the  mind  of  Horace 
Greeley. 

Horace  learned  to  read  before  he  had  learned  to  talk ;  that  is, 
before  he  could  pronounce  the  longer  words.  No  one  regularly 
taught  him.  When  he  was  little  more  than  two  years  old,  he  began 
to  pore  over  the  Bible,  opened  for  his  entertainment  on  the  floor, 
and  examine  with  curiosity  the  newspaper  given  him  to  play  with. 
He  cannot  remember  a  time  when  he  could  not  read,  nor  can  any 
one  give  an  account  of  the  process  by  which  he  learned,  except  that 
he  asked  questions  incessantly,  first  about  the  pictures  in  the  news- 
paper, then  about  the  capital  letters,  then  about  the  smaller  ones, 
and  finally  about  the  words  and  sentences.  At  three  years  of  age 
he  could  read  easily  and  correctly  any  of  the  books  prepared  for 
children;  and  at  four,  any  book  whatever.  But  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  overcoming  the  ordinary  difficulties  of  reading.  Allowing 
that  nature  gives  to  every  child  a  certain  amount  of  mental  force  to 
be  used  in  acquiring  the  art  of  reading,  Horace  had  an  over- 
plus of  that  force,  which  he  employed  in  learning  to  read  with  his 
book  in  positions  which  increased  the  difficulty  of  the  feat.  All  the 
friends  and  neighbors  of  his  early  childhood,  in  reporting  him  a 
prodigy  unexampled,  adduce  as  the  unanswerable  and  clinching 
proof  of  the  fact,  that,  at  the  age  of  four  years,  he  could  read 
any  book  in  whatever  position  it  might  be  placed, — right-side  up, 
up-side  down,  or  sidewise. 

His  third  winter  Horace  spent  at  the  house  of  his  grandfather, 
David  Woodburn,  in  Londonderry,  attended  the  district  school 
there,  and  distinguished  himself  greatly.  He  had  no  right  to  at- 
tend the  Londonderry  school,  and  the  people  of  the  rural  districts 


A    DISTRICT    SCHOOL    FORTY    YEARS    AGO.  39 

are  apt  to  be  strenuous  upon  the  point  of  not  admitting  to  their 
school  pupils  from  other  towns ;  but  Horace  was  an  engaging 
child ;  "  every  one  liked  the  little,  white-headed  fellow,"  says  a 
surviving  member  of  the  school  committee,  "and  BO  we  favored 
him." 

A  district  school — and  what  was  a  district  school  forty  years 
ago  ?  Horace  Greeley  never  attended  any  but  a  district  school,  and 
it  concerns  us  to  know  what  manner  of  place  it  was,  and  what 
was  its  routine  of  exercises. 

The  school-house  stood  in  an  open  place,  formed  (usually)  by  the 
crossing  of  roads.  It  was  very  small,  and  of  one  story  ;  contained 
one  apartment,  had  two  windows  on  each  side,  a  small  door  in  the 
gable  end  that  faced  the  road,  and  a  low  door-step  before  it.  It 
was  the  thing  called  HOUSE,  in  its  simplest  form.  But  for  its  roof, 
windows,  and  door,  it  had  been  a  BOX,  large,  rough,  and  unpainted. 
"Within  and  without,  it  was  destitute  of  anything  ornamental.  It 
was  not  enclosed  by  a  fence ;  it  was  not  shaded  by  a  tree.  The  sun 
in  summer,  the  winds  in  winter,  had  their  will  of  it :  there  was  no- 
thing to  avert  the  fury  of  either.  The  log  school-houses  of  the  pre- 
vious generation  were  picturesque  and  comfortable  ;  those  of  the 
present  time  are  as  prim,  neat,  and  orderly  (and  as  elegant  some- 
times) as  the  cottage  of  an  old  maid  who  enjoys  an  annuity;  but  the 
school-house  of  forty  years  ago  had  an  aspect  singularly  forlorn  and 
uninviting.  It  was  built  for  an  average  of  thirty  pupils,  but  it  fre- 
quently contained  fifty  ;  and  then  the  little  school-room  was  a  com- 
pact mass  of  young  humanity  :  the  teacher  had  to  dispense  with 
his  table,  and  was  lucky  if  he  could  find  room  for  his  chair.  The 
side  of  the  apartment  opposite  the  door  was  occupied,  chiefly,  by  a 
vast  fireplace,  four  or  five  feet  wide,  where  a  carman's  load  of  wood 
could  burn  in  one  prodigious  fire.  Along  the  sides  of  the  room  was 
a  low,  slanting  shelf,  which  served  for  a  desk  to  those  who  wrote, 
and  against  the  sharp  edge  of  which  the  elder  pupils  leaned  when 
they  were  not  writing.  The  seats  were  made  of  "  slabs,"  inverted, 
supported  on  sticks,  and  without  backs.  The  elder  pupils  sat  along 
the  sides  of  the  room, — the  girls  on  one  side,  the  boys  on  the  other; 
the  youngest  sat  nearest  the  fire,  where  they  were  as  much  too 
warm  as  those  who  sat  near  the  door  were  too  cold.  In  a  school 
of  forty  pupils,  there  would  bo  a  dozen  who  were  grown  up,  mar- 


40  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

riageable  young  men  and  women.  Not  unfrequently  married  men, 
and  occasionally  married  women,  attended  school  in  the  winter. 
Among  the  younger  pupils,  there  were  usually  a  dozen  who  could 
not  read,  and  half  as  many  who  did  not  know  the  alphabet.  The 
teacher  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  farmer's  sons  of  the  district,  who 
knew  a  little  more  than  his  elder  pupils,  and  only  a  little ;  or  he 
was  a  student  who  was  working  his  way  through  college.  His 
wages  were  those  of  a  farm-laborer,  ten  or  twelve  dollars  a  month 
and  his  board.  He  boarded  "  iiound"  i.  e.  he  lived  a  few  days  at 
each  of  the  houses  of  the  district,  stopping  longest  at  the  most 
agreeable  place.  The  grand  qualification  of  a  teacher  was  the  abil- 
ity "  to  do"  any  sum  in  the  arithmetic.  To  know  arithmetic  was  to 
be  a  learned  man.  Generally,  the  teacher  was  very  young,  some- 
times not  more  than  sixteen  years  old ;  but,  if  he  possessed  the  due 
expertness  at  figures,  if  he  could  read  the  Bible  without  stumbling 
over  the  long  words,  and  without  mispronouncing  more  than  two 
thirds  of  the  proper  names,  if  he  could  write  well  enough  to  set  a 
decent  copy,  if  he  could  mend  a  pen,  if  he  had  vigor  enough  of 
character  to  assert  his  authority,  and  strength  enough  of  arm  to 
maintain  it,  he  would  do.  The  school  began  at  nine  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  the  arrival  of  that  hour  was  announced  by  the  teacher's 
rapping  upon  the  window  frame  with  a  ruler.  The  boys,  and  the 
girls  too,  came  tumbling  in,  rosy  and  glowing,  from  their  snow- 
balling and  sledding.  The  first  thing  done  in  school  was  reading. 
The  "  first  class,"  consisting  of  that  third  of  the  pupils  who  could 
read  best,  stood  on  the  floor  and  read  round  once,  each  individual 
reading  about  half  a  page  of  the  English  Eeader.  Then  the  second 
class.  Then  the  third.  Last  of  all,  the  youngest  children  said  their 
letters.  By  that  time,  a  third  of  the  morning  was  over ;  and  then 
the  reading  began  again ;  for  public  opinion  demanded  of  the  teach- 
er that  he  should  hear  every  pupil  read  four  times  a  day,  twice  in 
the  morning  and  twice  in  the  afternoon.  Those  who  were  not  in 
the  class  reading,  were  employed,  or  were  supposed  to  be  employed, 
in  ciphering  or  writing.  When  they  wanted  to  write,  they  went  to 
the  teacher  with  their  writing-book  and  pen,  and  he  set  a  copy, — 
"  Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  time,"  "  Contentment  is  a  virtue," 
or  some  other  wise  saw, — and  mended  the  pen.  When  they  were 
puzzled  with  a  "sum,"  they  went  to  the  teacher  to  have  it  elucidat- 


THE    SPELLING   SCHOOL  41 

ed.  The}7  seem  to  have  written  and  ciphered  as  much  or  as  little 
as  they  chose,  at  what  time  they  chose,  and  in  what  manner.  In 
some  schools  there  were  classes  in  arithmetic  and  regular  instruc- 
tion in  writing,  and  one  class  in  grammar ;  but  such  schools,  forty 
years  ago,  were  rare.  The  exercises  of  the  morning  were  concluded 
with  a  general  spell,  the  teacher  giving  out  the  words  from  a  spell- 
ing-book, and  the  pupils  spelling  them  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 
At  noon  the  school  was  dismissed  ;  at  one  it  was  summoned  again, 
to  go  through,  for  the  next  three  hours,  precisely  the  same  routine 
as  that  of  the  morning.  In  this  rude  way  the  last  generation  of 
children  learned  to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  But  they  learned 
something  more  in  those  rude  school-houses.  They  learned  obedi- 
ence. They  were  tamed  and  disciplined.  The  means  employed 
were  extremely  unscientific,  but  the  thing  was  done!  The  means, 
in  fact,  were  merely  a  ruler,  and  what  was  called,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  that  milder  weapon,  "  the  heavy  gad ;"  by  which  express- 
ion was  designated  five  feet  of  elastic  sapling  of  one  year's  growth. 
These  two  implements  were  plied  vigorously  and  often.  Girls  got 
their  full  share  of  them.  Girls  old  enough  to  be  wives  were  no 
more  exempt  than  the  young  men  old  enough  to  marry  them,  who 
sat  on  the  other  side  of  the  schoolroom.  It  was  thought,  that  if  a 
youth  of  either  sex  was  not  too  old  to  do  wrong,  neither  he  nor  she 
was  too  old  to  suffer  the  consequences.  In  some  districts,  a  teacher 
was  valued  in  proportion  to  his  severity  ;  and  if  he  were  backward 
in  applying  the  ferule  and  the  "  gad,"  the  parents  soon  began  to  be 
uneasy.  They  thought  he  had  no  energy,  and  inferred  that  the 
children  could  not  be  learning  much.  In  the  district  schools,  then, 
of  forty  years  ago,  all  the  pupils  learned  to  read  and  to  obey ;  mosfc 
of  them  learned  to  write  ;  many  acquired  a  competent  knowledge 
of  figures ;  a  few  learned  the  rudiments  of  grammar ;  and  if  auy 
learned  more  than  these,  it  was  generally  due  to  their  unassisted 
and  unencouraged  exertions.  There  were  no  school-libraries  at  that 
time.  The  teachers  usually  possessed  little  general  information,  and 
the  little  they  did  possess  was  not  often  made  to  contribute  to  the 
mental  nourishment  of  their  pupils.  * 

On  one  of  the  first  benches  of  the  Londonderry  school  house,  near 
the  fire,  we  may  imagine  the  little  white-headed. fellow,  whom 
everybody  liked,  to  be  seated  during  the  winter  of  1814-15.  He 


42  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

was  eager  to  go  to  school.  When  the  snow  lay  on  the  ground  in 
drifts  too  deep  for  him  to  wade  through,  one  of  his  aunts,  who  still 
lives  to  tell  the  story,  would  take  him  up  on  her  shoulders  and 
carry  him  to  the  door.  He  was  the  possessor  that  winter,  of  three 
books,  the  "  Columbian  Orator,"  Morse's  Geography,  and  a  spell- 
ing book.  From  the  Columbian  Orator,  he  learned  many  pieces  by 
heart,  and  among  others,  that  very  celebrated  oration  which,  prob- 
ably the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  nation  have  at  some  pe- 
riod of  their  lives  been  able  to  repeat,  beginning, 

"  You  'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age, 
To  speak  in  public  on  the  stage." 

One  of  his  schoolfellows  has  a  vivid  remembrance  of  Horace's  re- 
citing this  piece  before  the  whole  school  in  Londonderry,  before  he 
was  old  enough  to  utter  the  words  plainly.  He  had  a  lisping, 
whining  little  voice,  says  my  informant,  but  spoke  with  the  utmost 
confidence,  and  greatly  to  the  amusement  of  the  school.  He  spoke 
the  piece  so  often  in  public  and  private,  as  to  become,  as  it  were, 
identified  with  it,  as  a  man  who  knows  one  song,  suggests  that 
song  by  his  presence,  and  is  called  upon  to  sing  it  wherever  he 
goes. 

It  is  a  pity  that  no  one  thinks  of  the  vast  importance  of  those 
"  Orators  "  and  reading  books  which  the  children  read  and  wear 
out  in  reading,  learning  parts  of  them  by  heart,  and  repeating 
them  over  and  over,  till  they  become  fixed  in  the  memory  and 
embedded  in  the  character  forever.  And  it  is  a  pity  that  those 
books  should  contain  so  much  false  sentiment,  inflated  language, 
Buncombe  oratory,  and  other  trash,  as  they  generally  do !  To 
compile  a  series  of  Reading  Books  for  the  common  schools  of 
this  country,  were  a  task  for  a  conclave  of  the  wisest  and  best  men 
and  women  that  ever  lived ;  a  task  worthy  of  them,  both  from  its 
difficulty  and  the  incalculable  extent  of  its  possible  results. 

Spelling  was  the  passion  of  the  little  orator  during  the  first  win- 
ters of  his  attendance  at  school.*  He  spelt  incessantly  in  school  and 
out  of  school.  He  would  lie  on  the  floor  at  his  grandfather's  house, 
for  hours  at  a  time,  spelling  hard  words,  all  that  he  could  find  in 
the  Bible  and  the  few  other  books  within  his  reach.  It  was  the 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF   HIS    SURVIVING    SCHOOLFELLOWS.  43 

standing  amusement  of  the  family  to  try  and  puzzle  the  boy  with 
words,  and  no  one  remembers  succeeding.  Spelling,  moreover, 
was  one  of  the  great  points  of  the  district  schools  in  those  days, 
and  he  who  could  out-spell,  or,  as  the  phrase  was,  "  spell  down  " 
the  whole  school,  ranked  second  only  to  him  who  surpassed  the 
rest  in  arithmetic.  Those  were  the  palmy  days  of  the  spelling- 
school.  The  pupils  assembled  once  a  week,  voluntarily,  at  the 
school-house,  chose  "  sides,"  and  contended  with  one  another  long 
and  earnestly  for  the  victory.  Horace,  young  as  he  was,  was  eager 
to  attend  the  spelling  school,  and  was  never  known  to  injure  the 
"  side  "  on  which  he  was  chosen  by  missing  a  word,  and  it  soon 
became  a  prime  object  at  the  spelling-school  to  get  the  first  choice, 
because  that  enabled  the  lucky  side  to  secure  the  powerful  aid  of 
Horace  Greeley.  He  is  well  remembered  by  his  companions  in  or- 
thography. They  delight  still  to  tell  of  the  little  fellow,  in  the 
long  evenings,  falling  asleep  in  his  place,  and  when  it  came  his 
turn,  his  neighbors  gave  him  an  anxious  nudge,  and  he  would  wake 
instantly,  spell  off  his  word,  and  drop  asleep  again  in  a  moment. 

Horace  went  to  school  three  terms  in  Londonderry,  spending 
part  of  each  year  at  home.  I  will  state  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
their  own  words,  what  his  school-fellows  there  remember  of  him. 

One  of  them  can  just  recall  him  as  a  very  small  boy  with  a  head  as 
white  as  snow,  who  "  was  almost  always  up  head  in  his  class,  and  took 
it  so  much  to  heart  when  he  did  happen  to  lose  his  place,  that  he 
would  cry  bitterly ;  so  that  some  boys  when  they  had  gained  the  right 
to  get  above  him,  declined  the  honor,  because  it  hurt  Horace's 
feelings  so."  He  was  the  pet  of  the  school.  Those  whom  he  used 
to  excel  most  signally  liked  him  as  well  as  the  rest.  He  was  an 
active,  bright,  eager  boy,  but  not  fond  of  play,  and  seldom  took 
part  in  the  sports  of  the  other  boys.  One  muster  day,  this  inform- 
ant remembers,  the  clergyman  of  Londonderry,  who  had  heard 
glowing  accounts  of  Horace's  feats  at  school,  took  him  on  his  lap  in 
the  field,  questioned  him  a  long  time,  tried  to  puzzle  him  with  hard 
words,  and  concluded  by  saying  with  strong  emphasis  to  one  of  the 
boy's  relatives,  "  Mark  my  words,  Mr.  TToodburn,  that  boy  was  not 
made  for  nothing." 

Another,  besides  confirming  the  above,  adds,  that  Horace  was 
in  some  respects  exceedingly  brave,  and  in  others  exceedingly  tim- 


44  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

orous.  He  was  never  afraid  of  the  dark,  could  not  be  frightened 
by  ghost-stories,  never  was  abashed  in  speaking  or  reciting,  was 
not  to  be  overawed  by  supposed  superiority  of  knowledge  or  rank, 
would  talk  up  to  the  teacher  and  question  his  decision  with  perfect 
freedom,  though  never  in  a  spirit  of  impertinence.  Yet  he  could 
not  stand  up  to  a  boy  and  fight.  When  attacked,  he  would  nei- 
ther fight  nor  run  away,  but  "  stand  still  and  take  it."  His  ear 
was  so  delicately  constructed  that  any  loud  noise  like  the  report  of 
a  gun  would  almost  throw  him  into  convulsions.  If  a  gun  were 
about  to  be  discharged,  he  would  either  run  away  as  fast  as  his 
slender  legs  carry  him,  or  else  would  throw  himself  upon  the 
ground  and  stuff  grass  into  his  ears  to  deaden  the  dreadful  noise. 
On  the  fourth  of  July,  when  the  people  of  Londonderry  inflamed 
their  patriotism  by  a  copious  consumption  of  gunpowder,  Horace 
would  run  into  the  woods  to  get  beyond  the  sound  of  the  cannons 
and  pistols.  It  was  at  Londonderry,  and  about  his  fourth  year,  that 
Horace  began  the  habit  of  reading  or  book-devouring,  which  he 
never  lost  during  all  the  years  of  his  boyhood,  youth,  and  appren- 
ticeship, and  relinquished  only  when  he  entered  that  most  exacting 
of  all  professions,  the  editorial.  The  gentleman  whose  reminis- 
cences I  am  now  recording,  tells  me  that  Horace  in  his  fifth  and 
sixth  years,  would  lie  under  a  tree  on  his  face,  reading  hour  after 
hour,  completely  absorbed  in  his  book ;  and  "  if  no  one  stumbled 
over  him  or  stirred  him  up,"  would  read  on,  unmindful  of  dinn-er 
time  and  sun-set,  as  long  as  he  could  see.  It  was  his  delight  in 
books  that  made  him,  when  little  more  than  an  infant,  determine 
to  be  a  printer,  as  printers,  he  supposed,  were  they  who  made  books. 
"  One  day,"  says  this  gentleman,  "  Horace  and  I  went  to  a  black- 
smith's shop,  and  Horace  watched  the  process  of  horse-shoeing  with 
much  interest.  The  blacksmith  observing  how  intently  he  looked 
on,  said,  '  You  'd  better  come  with  me  and  learn  the  trade.'  '  No,' 
said  Horace  in  his  prompt  decided  way,  '  I  'm  going  to  be  a  printer.' 
He  was  then  six  years  old,  and  very  small  for  his  age.;  and  this  pos- 
itive choice  of  a  career  by  so  diminutive  a  piece  of  humanity, 
mightily  amused  the  by-standers.  The  blacksmith  used  to  tell  the 
story  with  great  glee  when  Horace  was  a  printer,  and  one  of  some 
note. 
Another  gentleman,  who  went  to  school  with  Horace  at  London- 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    HIS    SURVIVING    SCHOOLFELLOWS.  45 

deny,  writes  : — "  I  think  I  attended  school  with  Horace  Greeley 
two  summers  and  two  winters,  but  have  no  recollection  of  seeing 
him  except  at  the  school-house.  He  was  an  exceedingly  mild,  quiet 
and  inoffensive  child,  entirely  devoted  to  his  books  at  school.  It 
used  to  be  said  in  the  neighborhood,  that  he  was  the  same  out  of 
school,  and  that  his  parents  were  obliged  to  secrete  his  books  to 
prevent  his  injuring  himself  by  over  study.  His  devotion  to  his 
books,  together  with  the  fact  of  his  great  advancement  beyond 
others  of  his  age  in  the  few  studies  then  pursued  in  the  district 
school,  rendered  him  notorious  in  that  part  of  the  .town.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  prodigy,  and  his  name  was  a  household  world.  He 
was  looked  upon  as  standing  alone,  and  entirely  unapproachable  by 
any  of  the  little  mortals  around  him.  Beading,  parsing,  and  spelling, 
are  the  only  branches  of  learning  which  I  remember  him  in,  or  in 
connection  with  which  his  name  was  at  that  time  mentioned, 
though  he  might  have  given  some  attention  to  writing  and  arith- 
metic, which  completed  the  circle  of  studies  in  the  district  school  at 
that  time;  but  in  the  three  branches  first  named  he  excelled  all,  even 
in  the  winter  school,  which  was  attended  by  several  young  men  and 
women,  some  of  whom  became  teachers  soon  after.  Though 
mild  and  quiet  he  was  ambitious  in  the  school ;  to  be  at  the  head 
of  his  class,  and  be  accounted  the  best  scholar  in  school,  seemed 
to  be  prominent  objects  with  him,  and  to  furnish  strong  motives  to 
effort.  I  can  recall  but  one  instance  of  his  missing  a  word  in  the 
spelling  class.  The  classes  went  on  to  the  floor  to  spell,  and  he  al- 
most invariably  stood  at  the  head  of  the  'first  class,'  embracing 
the  most  advanced  scholars.  He  stood  there  at  the  time  referred 
to,  and  by  missing  a  word,  lost  his  place,  which  so  grieved  him  that 
he  wept  like  a  punished  child.  While  I  knew  him  he  did  not  en- 
gage with  other  children  in  the  usual  recreations  and  amuse- 
ments of  the  school  grounds  ;  as  soon  as  the  school  was  dismissed  at 
noon,  he  would  start  for  home,  a  distance  of  half  a  mile,  with  all 
his  books  under  his  arm,  including  the  New  Testament,  Webster's 
Spelling  Book,  English  Reader,  &c.,  and  would  not  return  till  the 
last  moment  of  intermission  ;  at  least  such  was  his  practice  in  the 
summer  time.  With  regard  to  his  aptness  in  spelling,  it  used  to  be 
said  that  the  minister  of  the  town,  Rev.  Mr.  McGregor,  once  at- 
tempted to  find  a  word  or  name  in  the  Bible  which  he  could  not 


46  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

spell  correctly,  but  failed  to  do  so.  I  always  supposed,  however, 
that  this  was  an  exaggeration,  for  he  could  not  have  been  more  than 
seven  years  old  at  the  time  this  was  told.  My  father  soon  after  re- 
moved to  another  town  thirty  miles  distant,  and  I  lost  sight  of  the 
family  entirely,  Horace  and  all,  though  I  always  remembered  the 
gentle,  flaxen-haired  schoolmate  with  much  interest,  and  often  won- 
dered what  became  of  him  ;  and  when  the  '  Log  Cabin '  appeared, 
I  took  much  pains  to  assure  myself  whether  this  Horace  Greeley 
was  the  same  little  Horace  grown  up,  and  found  it  was." 

From  his  sixtfi  year,  Horace  resided  chiefly  at  his  father's  house. 
He  was  now  old  enough  to  walk  to  the  nearest  school-house,  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  his  home.  He  could  read  fluently,  spell  any  word 
in  the  language ;  had  some  knowledge  of  geography,  and  a  little  of 
arithmetic ;  had  read  the  Bible  through  from  Genesis  to  Kevela- 
tions ;  had  read  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  with  intense  interest,  and 
dipped  into  every  other  book  he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  From  his 
sixth  to  his  tenth  year,  he  lived,  worked,  read  and  went  to  school, 
in  Amherst  and  the  adjoining  town  of  Bedford.  Those  who  were 
then  his  neighbors  and  schoolmates  there,  have  a  lively  recollection 
of  the  boy  and  his  ways. 

Henceforth,  he  went  to  school  only  in  the  winter.  Again  he  at- 
tended a  school  which  he  had  no  right  to  attend,  that  of  Bedford, 
and  his  attendance  was  not  merely  permitted,  but  sought.  The 
school-committee  expressly  voted,  that  no  pupils  from  other  towns 
should  be  received  at  their  school,  except  Horace  Greeley  alone  ; 
and,  on  entering  the  school,  he  took  his  place,  young  as  he  was,  at 
the  head  of  it,  as  it  were,  by  acclamation.  Nor  did  his  superiority 
ever  excite  envy  or  enmity.  He  bore  his  honors  meekly.  Every 
one  liked  the  boy,  and  took  pride  in  his  superiority  to  themselves. 
All  his  schoolmates  agree  in  this,  that  Horace  never  had  an  ene- 
my at  school. 

The  snow  lies  deep  on  those  New  Hampshire  hills  in  the  winter, 
and  presents  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  younger  children  in  their  way 
to  the  school-house  ;  nor  is  it  the  rarest  of  disasters,  even  now,  for 
children  to  be  lost  in  a  drift,  and  frozen  to  death.  (Such  a  calam- 
ity happened  two  years  ago,  within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  old  Gree- 
ley homestead.)  "  Many  a  morning,"  says  one  of  the  neighbors — 
then  a  stout  schoolboy,  now  a  sturdy  farmer— "many  a  morning  I 


HIS   EARLY    FONDNESS    FOE    THE   VILLAGE    NEWSPAPER.         47 

have  carried  Horace  on  my  back  through  the  drifts  to  school,  and 
put  my  own  mittens  over  his,  to  keep  his  little  hands  from  freez- 
ing." He  adds,  "  I  lived  at  the  next  house,  and  I  and  my  brothers 
often  went  down  in  the  evening  to  play  with  him ;  but  he  never 
would  play  with  us  till  he  had  got  his  lessons.  We  could  neither 
coax  nor  force  him  to."  He  remembers  Horace  as  a  boy  of  a  bright 
and  active  nature,  but  neither  playful  nor  merry  ;  one  who  would 
utter  acute  and  "  old-fashioned"  remarks,  and  make  more  fun  for 
others  than  he  seemed  to  enjoy  himself. 

His  fondness  for  reading  grew  with  the  growth  of  his  mind,  till 
it  amounted  to  a  passion.  His  father's  stock  of  books  was  small 
indeed.  It  consisted  of  a  Bible,  a  "  Confession  of  Faith,"  and  per- 
haps, all  told,  twenty  volumes  beside ;  and  they  by  no  means  of  a 
kind  calculated  to  foster  a  love  of  reading  in  the  mind  of  a  little 
boy.  But  a  weekly  newspaper  came  to  the  house  from  the  village 
of  Amherst ;  and,  except  his  mother's  tales,  that  newspaper  proba- 
bly had  more  to  do  with  the  opening  of  the  boy's  mind  and  the 
tendency  of  his  opinions,  than  anything  else.  The  family  well  re- 
member the  eagerness  with  which  he  anticipated  its  coming.  Pa- 
per-day was  the  brightest  of  the  week.  An  hour  before  the  post- 
rider  was  expected,  Horace  would  walk  down  the  road  to  meet 
him,  bent  on  having  the  first  read  ;  and  when  he  had  got  possession 
of  the  precious  sheet,  he  would  hurry  with  it  to  some  secluded 
place,  lie  down  on  the  grass,  and  greedily  devour  its  contents.  The 
paper  was  called  (and  is  still)  the  Farmer's  Cabinet.  It  was  mildly 
Whig  in  politics.  The  selections  were  religious,  agricultural,  and 
miscellaneous  ;  the  editorials  few,  brief,  and  amiable  ;  its  summary 
of  news  scanty  in  the  extreme.  But  it  was  the  only  bearer  of  tid- 
ings from  the  Great  World.  It  connected  the  little  brown  house  on 
the  rocky  hill  of  Amherst  with  the  general  life  of  mankind.  The 
boy,  before  he  could  read  himself,  and  before  he  could  understand 
the  meaning  of  war  and  bloodshed,  doubtless  heard  his  father  read 
in  it  of  the  triumphs  and  disasters  of  the  Second  War  with  Great 
Britain,  and  of  the  rejoicings  at  the  conclusion  of  peace.  He  him- 
self may  have  read  of  Decatur's  gallantry  in  the  war  with  Algiers, 
of  Wellington's  victory  at  Waterloo,  of  Napoleon's  fretting  away 
his  life  on  the  rock  of  St.  Helena,  of  Monroe's  inauguration,  of  the 
dismantling  of  the  fleets  on  the  great  lakes,  of  the  progress  of  the 


48  EARLY   CHILDHOOD, 

Erie  Canal  project,  of  Jackson's  inroads  into  Florida,  and  the  subse- 
quent cession  of  that  province  to  the  United  States,  of  the  first 
tneeting  of  Congress  in  the  Capitol,  of  the  passage  of  the  Missouri 
-Compromise.  During  the  progress  of  the  various  commercial  trea- 
ties with  the  States  of  Europe,  which  were  negotiated  after  the 
•conclusion  of  the  general  peace,  the  whole  theory,  practice,  and  his- 
tory of  commercial  intercourse,  were  amply  discussed  in  Congress 
and  the  newspapers ;  and  the  mind  of  Horace,  even  in  his  ninth 
.year,  was  mature  enough  to  take  some  interest  in  the  subject,  and 
•derive  some  impressions  from  its  discussion.  The  Farmer**  Cabinet, 
which  brought  all  these  and  countless  othei  ideas  and  events  to 
bear  on  the  education  of  the  boy,  is  now  one  of  the  thousand  pa- 
pers with  which  the  Tribune  exchanges. 

Horace  scoured  the  country  for  books.  Books  were  "books  in  that 
remote  and  secluded  region ;  and  when  he  had  exhausted  the  col- 
lections of  the  neighbors,  he  carried  the  search  into  the  neighbor- 
ing towns.  I  am  assured  that  there  was  not  one  readable  book 
within  seven  miles  of  his  father's  house,  which  Horace  did  not  bor- 
row and  read  during  his  residence  in  Amherst.  He  was  never 
without  a  book.  As  soon,  says  one  of  his  sisters,  as  he  was  dressed 
in  the  morning,  he  flew  to  his  book.  He  read  every  minute  of  the 
day  which  ho  could  snatch  from  his  studies  at  school,  and  on  the 
farm.  He  would  be  so  absorbed  in  his  reading,  that  when  his  pa- 
rents required  his  services,  it  was  like  rousing  a  heavy  sleeper  from 
•his  deepest  sleep,  to  awaken  Horace  to  a  sense  of  things  around 
him  and  an  apprehension  of  the  duty  required  of  him.  And  even 
then  he  clung  to  his  book.  He  would  go  reading  to  the  cellar  and 
the  cider-barrel,  reading  to  the  wood-pile,  reading  to  the  garden, 
reading  to  the  neighbors ;  and  pocketing  his  book  only  long  enough 
to  perform  his  errand,  he  would  fall  to  reading  again  the  instant  his 
mind  and  his  hands  were  at  liberty. 

He  kept  in  a  secure  place  an  ample  supply  of  pine  knots,  and  as 
soon  as  it  was  dark  he  would  light  one  of  these  cheap  and  brilliant 
illuminators,  put  it  on  the  back-log  in  the  spacious  fire-place,  pile 
up  his  school  books  and  his  reading  books  on  the  floor,  lie  down  on 
his  back  on  the  hearth,  with  his  head  to  the  fire  and  his  feet  coiled 
away  out  of  the  reach  of  stumblers ;  and  there  he  would  lie  and 
read  all  through  the  long  winter  evenings,  silent,  motionless,  dead 


SCOURS    THE    COUNTRY    FOR    BOOKS.  49 

to  the  world  around  him,  alive  only  to  the  world  to  which  he  was 
transported  by  his  book.  Visitors  would  come  in,  chat  a  while, 
and  go  away,  without  knowing  he  was  present,  and  without  his 
being  aware  of  their  coming  and  going.  It  was  a  nightly  struggle 
to  get  him  to  bed.  His  father  required  his  services  early  in  the 
morning,  and  was  therefore  desirous  that  he  should  go  to  bed  early 
in  the  evening.  He  feared,  also,  for  the  eye-sight  of  the  boy,  read- 
ing so  many  hours  with  his  head  in  the  fire  and  by  the  flaring,  flicker- 
ing light  of  a  pine  knot.  And  so,  by  nine  o'clock,  his  father  would 
"begin  the  task  of  recalling  the  absent  mind  from  its  roving,  and 
rousing  the  prostrate  and  dormant  body.  And  when  Horace  at 
length  had  been  forced  to  beat  a  retreat,  he  kept  his  younger 
brother  awake  by  telling  over  to  him  in  bed  what  he  had  read,  and 
by  reciting  the  school  lessons  of  the  next  day.  His  brother  was  by 
no  means  of  a  literary  turn,  and  was  prone — much  to  the  chagrin 
of  Horace — to  fall  asleep  long  before  the  lessons  were  all  said  and 
the  tales  all  told. 

So  entire  and  passionate  a  devotion  to  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge in  one  so  young,  would  be  remarkable  in  any  circumstances. 
But  when  the  situation  of  the  boy  is  considered — living  in  a  remote 
mdvery  rural  district — few  books  accessible — few  literary  persons  re- 
siding near— the  school  contributing  scarcely  anything  to  his  mental 
nourishment — no  other  boy  in  the  neighborhood  manifesting  any 
particular  interest  in  learning — the  people  about  him  all  engaged  in 
a  rude  and  hard  struggle  to  extract  the  means  of  subsistence  from 
a  rough  and  rocky  soil — such  an  intense,  absorbing,  and  persistent 
love  of  knowledge  as  that  exhibited  by  Horace  Greeley,  must  be 
accounted  very  extraordinary. 

That  his  neighbors  so  accounted  it,  they  are  still  eager  to  attest. 
Continually  the  wonder  grew,  that  one  small  head  should  carry  all 
he  knew. 

There  were  not  wanting  those  who  thought  that  superior  means 
of  instruction  ought  to  be  placed  within  the  reach  of  so  superior 
a  child.  I  have  a  somewhat  vague,  but  very  positive,  and  fully  con- 
firmed story,  of  a  young  man  just  returned  from  college  to  his 
father's  house  in  Bedford,  who  fell  in  with  Horace,  and  was  so 
struck  with  his  capacity  and  attainments  that  he  offered  to  send 
him  to  an  academy  in  a  neighboring  town,  and  bear  all  the  ex- 

3 


50  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

penses  of  his  maintenance  and  tuition.  Bat  his  mother  could  not 
let  him  go,  his  father  needed  his  assistance  at  home,  and  the  boy 
himself  is  said  not  to  have  favored  the  scheme.  A  wise,  a  fortunate 
choice,  I  cannot  help  believing.  That  academy  may  have  been  an 
institution  where  boys  received  more  good  than  harm — where  real 
knowledge  was  imparted — where  souls  were  inspired  with  the  love 
of  high  and  good  things,  and  inflamed  with  an  ambition  to  run  a 
high  and  good  career — where  boys  did  not  lose  all  their  modesty 
and  half  their  sense — where  chests  were  expanded — where 
cheeks  were  ruddy — where  limbs  were  active — where  stomachs 
were  peptic.  It  may  have  been.  But  if  it  was,  it  was  a  different 
academy  from  many  whose  praises  are  in  all  the  newspapers.  It 
was  better  not  to  run  the  risk.  If  that  young  man's  offer  had  been 
accepted,  it  is  a  question  whether  the  world  would  have  ever  heard 
of  Horace  Greeley.  Probably  his  fragile  body  would  not  have  sus- 
tained the  brain-stimulating  treatment  which  a  forward  and  eager 
boy  generally  receives  at  an  academy. 

A  better  friend,  though  not  a  better  meaning  one,  was  a  jovial 
neighbor,  a  sea-captain,  who  had  taken  to  farming.  The  captain 
had  seen  the  world,  possessed  the  yarn-spinning  faculty,  and  be- 
sides, being  himself  a  walking  traveller's  library,  had  a  considerable 
collection  of  books,  which  he  freely  lent  to  Horace.  His  salute,  on 
meeting  the  boy,  was  not  '  How  do  you  do,  Horace  ?'  but  '  Well, 
Horace,  what's  the  capital  of  Turkey  ?'  or,  '  "Who  fought  the  battle 
of  Eutaw  Springs  ?'  or,  '  How  do  you  spell  Encyclopedia,  or  Kamt- 
schatka,  or  Nebuchadnezzar  ?'  The  old  gentleman  used  to  question 
the  boy  upon  the  contents  of  the  books  he  had  lent  him,  and  was 
again  and  again  surprised  at  the  fluency,  the  accuracy,  and  the  full- 
ness of  his  replies.  The  captain  was  of  service  to  Horace  in  vari- 
ous ways,  and  he  is  remembered  by  the  family  with  gratitude.  To 
Horace's  brother  he  once  gave  a  sheep  and  a  load  of  hay  to  keep  it 
on  during  the  winter,  thus  adapting  his  benefactions  to  the  various 
tastes  of  his  juvenile  friends. 

A  clergyman,  too,  is  spoken  of,  who  took  great  interest  in  Horace, 
and  gave  him  instruction  in  grammar,  often  giving  the  boy  er- 
roneous information  to  test  his  knowledge.  Horace,  he  used  to 
say,  could  never  be  shaken  on  a  point  which  he  had  once  clearly 
understood,  but  would  stand  to  his  opinion,  and  defend  it  against 
anybody  and  everybody — teacher,  pastor,  or  public  opinion. 


HIS   WAT    OF   FISHING.  51 

In  New  England,  the  sons  of  farmers  begin  to  make  themselves 
useful  almost  as  soon  as  they  can  walk.  They  feed  the  chickens, 
they  drive  the  cows,  they  bring  in  wood  and  water,  and  soon  come 
to  perform  all  those  offices  which  come  under  the  denomiation  of 
"  chores"  By  the  time  they  are  eight  or  nine  years  old,  they  fre- 
quently have  tasks  assigned  them,  which  are  called  "  stints,"  and 
not  till  they  have  done  their  stint  are  they  at  liberty  to  play. 
The  reader  may  think  that  Horace's  devotion  to  literature  would 
naturally  enough  render  the  farm  work  distasteful  to  him  ;  and  if 
he  had  gone  to  the  academy,  it  might.  I  am  bound,  however,  to 
say  that  all  who  knew  him  in  boyhood,  agree  that  he  was  not  more 
devoted  to  study  in  his  leisure  hours,  than  he  was  faithful  and  assid- 
uous in  performing  his  duty  to  his  father  during  the  hours  of  work. 
Faithful  is  the  word.  He  could  be  trusted  any  where,  and  to  do 
anything  within  the  compass  of  his  strength  and  years.  It  was 
hard,  sometimes,  to  rouse  him  from  his  books ;  but  when  he  had 
been  roused,  and  was  entrusted  with  an  errand  or  a  piece  of  work, 
he  would  set  about  it  vigorously  and  lose  no  time  till  it  was  done. 
"  Come,"  his  brother  would  say  sometimes,  when  the  father  had 
set  the  boys  a  task  and  had  gone  from  home ;  "  come,  Hod,  let's  go 
fishing."  "  No,"  Horace  would  reply,  in  his  whining  voice,  "  let 
us  do  our  stint  first."  "  He  was  always  in  school  though,"  says  his 
brother,  "  and  as  we  hoed  down  the  rows,  or  chopped  at  the  wood- 
pile, he  was  perpetually  talking  about  his  lessons,  asking  questions, 
and  narrating  what  he  had  read." 

Fishing,  it  appears,  was  the  only  sport  in  which  Horace  took 
much  pleasure,  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life.  But  his  love 
of  fishing  did  not  originate  in  what  the  Germans  call  the  "sport 
impulse."  Other  boys  fished  for  sport;  Horace  fished  for  fish.  He 
fished  industriously,  keeping  his  eyes  unceasingly  on  the  float,  and 
never  distracting  his  own  attention,  or  that  of  the  fish,  by  convers- 
ing with  his  companions.  The  consequence  was  that  he  would 
often  catch  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  partyput  together.  Shoot- 
ing was  the  favorite  amusement  of  the  boys  of  the  neighborhood, 
but  Horace  could  rarely  be  persuaded  to  take  part  in  it.  When 
he  did  accompany  a  shooting-party,  he  would  never  carry  or  dis- 
charge a  gun,  and  when  the  game  was  found  he  would  lie  down 
and  stop  his  ears  till  the  murder  had  been  done. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HIS  FATHER  RUINED — REMOVAL  TO  VERMONT. 

New  Hampshire  before  the  era  of  manufactures — Causes  of  his  father's  failure — Rum 
m  the  olden  time— An  execution  in  the  house— Flight  of  the  father— Horace  and 
the  Rum  Jug — Compromise  with  the  creditors — Removal  to  another  farm — Fi- 
nal ruin— Removal  to  Vermont— The  winter  journey— Poverty  of  the  family- 
Scene  at  their  new  home — Cheerfulness  in  misfortune. 

BUT  while  thus  Horace  was  growing  up  to  meet  his  destiny, 
pressing  forward  on  the  rural  road  to  learning,  and  secreting  char- 
acter in  that  secluded  home,  a  cloud,  undiscerned  by  him,  had  come 
over  his  father's  prospects.  It  began  to  gather  when  the  boy  was 
little  more  than  six  years  old.  In  his  seventh  year  it  broke,  and 
drove  the  family,  for  a  time,  from  house  and  land.  In  his  tenth,  it 
had  completed  its  work — his  father  was  a  ruined  man,  an  exile,  a 
fugitive  from  his  native  State. 

In  those  days,  before  the  great  manufacturing  towns  which  now 
afford  the  farmer  a  market  for  his  produce  had  sprung  into  exist- 
ence along  the  shores  of  the  Merrimac,  before  a  net- work  of  rail- 
roads regulated  the  price  of  grain  in  the  barns  of  New  Hampshire 
by  the  standard  of  Mark  Lane,  a  farmer  of  New  Hampshire  was 
not,  in  his  best  estate,  very  far  from  ruin.  Some  articles  which 
forty  years  ago,  were  quite  destitute  of  pecuniary  value,  now  afford 
an  ample  profit.  Fire-wood,  for  example,  when  Horace  Greeley 
was  a  boy,  could  seldom  be  sold  at  any  price.  It  was  usually 
burned  up  on  the  land  on  which  it  grew,  as  a  worthless  incumbrance. 
Fire-wood  now,  in  the  city  of  Manchester,  sells  for  six  dollars  a 
cord,  and  at  any  point  within  ten  miles  of  Manchester  for  four  dol- 
lars. Forty  years  ago,  farmers  had  little  surplus  produce,  and  that 
little  had  to  be  carried  far,  and  it  brought  little  money  home.  In 
short,  before  the  manufacturing  system  was  introduced  into  New 
Hampshire,  affording  employment  to  her  daughters  in  the  factory, 
to  her  sons  on  the  land,  New  Hampshire  was  a  poverty-stricken 
State. 


CAUSES   OP   HIS   FATHER'S   FAILURE.  53 

It  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  party  infatuation,  that  the  two  States 
which  if  they  have  not  gained  most,  have  certainly  most  to  gain 
from  the  "  American  system,"  should  have  always  been,  and  should 
still  be  its  most  rooted  opponents.  But  man  the  partisan,  like  man 
the  sectarian,  is,  always  was,  and  will  ever  be,  a  poor  creature. 

The  way  to  thrive  in  New  Hampshire  was  to  work  very  hard, 
keep  the  store-bill  small,  stick  to  the  farm,  and  be  no  man's  security. 
Of  these  four  things,  Horace's  father  did  only  one — he  worked  hard. 
He  was  a  good  workman,  methodical,  skillful,  and  persevering. 
But  he  speculated  in  lumber,  and  lost  money  by  it.  He  was  *  bound,' 
as  they  say  in  the  country,  for  another  man,  and  had  to  pay  the 
money  which  that  other  man  failed  to  pay.  He  had  a  free  and 
generous  nature,  lived  well,  treated  the  men  whom  he  employed 
liberally,  and  in  various  ways  swelled  his  account  with  the  store- 
keeper. 

Those,  too,  were,  the  jolly,  bad  days,  when  everybody  drank 
strong  drinks,  and  no  one  supposed  that  the  affairs  of  life  could  pos- 
sibly be  transacted  without  its  agency,  any  more  than  a  machine 
could  go  without  the  lubricating  oil.  A  field  could  not  be  '  logged,' 
hay  could  not  be  got  in,  a  harvest  could  not  be  gathered,  unless  the 
jug  of  liquor  stood  by  the  spring,  and  unless  the  spring  was  visited 
many  times  in  the  day  by  all  hands.  No  visitor  could  be  sent  un- 
moistened  away.  No  holiday  could  be  celebrated  without  drinking- 
booths.  At  weddings,  at  christenings,  at  funerals,  rum  seemed  to 
be  the  inducement  that  brought,  and  the  tie  that  bound,  the  com- 
pany together.  It  was  rum  that  cemented  friendship,  and  rum  that 
clinched  bargains ;  rum  that  kept  out  the  cold  of  winter,  and  rum 
that  moderated  the  summer's  heat.  Men  drank  it,  women  drank 
it,  children  drank  it.  There  were  families  in  which  the  first  duty 
of  every  morning  was  to  serve  around  to  all  its  members,  even  to 
the  youngest  child,  a  certain  portion  of  alcoholic  liquor.  Eum  had 
to  be  bought  with  money,  and  money  was  hard  to  get  in  New 
Hampshire.  Zaccheus  Greeley  was  not  the  man  to  stint  his  work- 
men. At  his  house  and  on  his  farm  the  jug  was  never  empty.  In 
his  cellar  the  cider  never  was  dry.  And  so,  by  losses  which  he 
could  not  help,  by  practices  which  had  not  yet  been  discovered  to 
be  unnecessary,  his  affairs  became  disordered,  and  he  began  to 
descend  the  easy  steep  that  leads  to  the  abyss  of  bankruptcy.  He 


54  HIS    FATHER   RUINED. REMOVAL    TO   VERMONT. 

arrived — lingered  a  few  years  oil  the  edge — was  pushed  in — and 
scrambled  out  on  the  other  side. 

It  was  on  a  Monday  morning.  There  had  heen  a  long,  fierce 
rain,  and  the  clouds  still  hung  heavy  and  dark  over  the  hills. 
Horace,  then  only  seven  years  old,  on  coming  down  stairs  in  the 
morning,  saw  several  men  about  the  house ;  neighbors,  some  of 
them;  others  were  strangers;  others  he  had  seen  in  the  village. 
He  was  too  young  to  know  the  nature  of  an  Execution,  and  by  what 
right  the  sheriff  and  a  party  of  men  laid  hands  upon  his  father's 
property.  His  father  had  walked  quietly  off  into  the  woods ;  for, 
at  that  period,  a  man's  person  was  not  exempt  from  seizure.  Horace 
had  a  vague  idea  that  the  men  had  come  to  rob  them  of  all  they 
possessed ;  and  wild  stories  are  afloat  in  the  neighborhood,  of  the 
boy's  conduct  on  the  occasion.  Some  say,  that  he  seized  a  hatchet, 
ran  to  the  neighboring  field,  and  began  furiously  to  cut  down  a  fa- 
vorite pear-tree,  saying,  "  They  shall  not  have  that,  anyhow."  But 
his  mother  called  him  off,  and  the  pear-tree  still  stands.  Another 
story  is,  that  he  went  to  one  of  his  mother's  closets,  and  taking  as 
many  of  her  dresses  as  he  could  grasp  in  his  arms,  ran  away  with 
them  into  the  woods,  hid  them  behind  a  rock,  and  then  came  back 
to  the  house  for  more.  Others  assert,  that  the  article  carried  off 
by  the  indignant  boy  was  not  dresses,  but  a  gallon  of  rum.  But 
whatever  the  boy  did,  or  left  undone,  the  reader  may  imagine  that 
it  was  to  all  the  family  a  day  of  confusion,  anguish,  and  horror. 
Both  of  Horace's  parents  were  persons  of  incorruptible  honesty ; 
they  had  striven  hard  to  place  such  a  calamity  as  this  far  from  their 
house;  they  had  never  experienced  themselves,  nor  witnessed  at 
their  earlier  homes,  a  similar  scene ;  the  blow  was  unexpected ;  and 
mingled  with  their  sense  of  shame  at  being  publicly  degraded,  was 
a  feeling  of  honest  rage  at  the  supposed  injustice  of  so  summary  a 
proceeding.  It  was  a  dark  day ;  but  it  passed,  as  the  darkest  day 
will. 

An  "  arrangement"  was  made  with  the  creditors.  Mr.  Greeley 
gave  up  his  own  farm,  temporarily,  and  removed  to  another  in  the 
adjoining  town  of  Bedford,  which  he  cultivated  on  shares,  and  de- 
voted principally  to  the  raising  of  hops.  Misfortune  still  pursued 
him.  His  two  years'  experience  of  hop-growing  was  not  satisfac- 
tory. The  hop-market  was  depressed.  His  own  farm  in  Amherst 


BEGINNING   THE   WORLD   ANEW.  55 

was  either  ill  managed  or  else  the  seasons  were  unfavorable.  He 
gave  up  the  hop-farm,  poorer  than  ever.  He  removed  back  to  his 
old  home  in  Amherst.  A  little  legal  manoeuvring  or  rascality  on 
the  part  of  a  creditor,  gave  the  finishing  blow  to  his  fortunes ;  and, 
in  the  winter  of  1821,  he  gave  up  the  effort  to  recover  himself,  be- 
came a  bankrupt,  was  sold  out  of  house,  land,  and  household  goods 
by  the  sheriff,  and  fled  from  the  State  to  avoid  arrest,  leaving  his 
family  behind.  Horace  was  nearly  ten  years  old.  Some  of  the 
debts  then  left  unpaid,  he  discharged  in  part  thirty  years  after. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  to  begin  the  world  anew,  and  the  world  was  all 
before  him,  where  to  choose,  excepting  only  that  portion  of  it  which 
is  included  within  the  boundaries  of  New  Hampshire.  He  made  his 
way,  after  some  wandering,  to  the  town  of  Westhaven,  in  Rutland 
county,  Vermont,  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  northwest  of 
his  former  residence.  There  he  found  a  large  landed  proprietor, 
who  had  made  one  fortune  in  Boston  as  a  merchant,  and  married 
another  in  Westhaven,  the  latter  consisting  of  an  extensive  tract 
of  land.  He  had  now  retired  from  business,  had  set  up  for  a  coun- 
try gentleman,  was  clearing  his  lands,  and  when  they  were  cleared 
he  rented  them  out  in  farms.  This  attempt  to  "  found  an  estate," 
in  the  European  style,  signally  failed.  The  "  mansion  house"  has 
been  disseminated  over  the  neighborhood,  one  wing  here,  another 
wing  there ;  the  "  lawn"  is  untrimmed ;  the  attempt  at  a  park-gate 
has  lost  enough  of  the  paint  that  made  it  tawdry  once,  to  look 
shabby  now.  But  this  gentleman  was  useful  to  Zaccheus  Greeley 
in  the  day  of  his  poverty.  He  gave  him  work,  rented  him  a  small 
house  nearly  opposite  the  park-gate  just  mentioned,  and  thus  en- 
abled him  in  a  few  weeks  to  transport  his  family  to  a  new  home. 

It  was  in  the  depth  of  winter  when  they  made  the  journey.  The 
teamster  that  drove  them  still  lives  to  tell  how  '  old  Zac  Greeley 
came  to  him,  and  wanted  he  should  take  his  sleigh  and  horses  and 
go  over  with  him  to  New  Hampshire  State,  and  bring  his  family 
back  ;r  and  how,  when  they  had  got  a  few  miles  on  the  way,  he  said 
to  Zac,  said  he,  that  he  (Zac)  was  a  stranger  to  him,  and  he  did  n't 
feel  like  going  so  far  without  enough  to  secure  him ;  and  so  Zac 
gave  him  enough  to  secure  him,  and  away  they  drove  to  New 
Hampshire  State.  One  sleigh  was  sufficient  to  convey  all  the  little 
property  the  law  had  left  v-'e  family,  and  the  load  could  not  have 


56  HIS    FATHER   RUINED. REMOVAL   TO    VERMONT. 

been  a  heavy  one,  for  the  distance  was  accomplished  in  a  little  more 
than  two  days.  The  sleighing,  however,  was  good,  and  the  Con- 
necticut river  was  crossed  on  the  ice.  The  teamster  remembers 
well  the  intelligent  white-headed  boy  who  was  so  pressing  with  his 
questions,  as  they  rode  along  over  the  snow,  and  who  soon  exhaust- 
ed the  man's  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  region  in  which 
he  had  lived  all  his  days.  "  He  asked  me,"  says  he,  "  a  great  deal 
about  Lake  Ohamplain,  and  how  far  it  was  from  Plattsburgh  to  this, 

that,  and  t'  other  place ;  but,  Lord !  he  told  me  a  d d  sight  more 

than  I  could  tell  Mm."  The  passengers  in  the  sleigh  were  Horace, 
his  parents,  his  brother,  and  two  sisters,  and  all  arrived  safely  at  the 
little  house  in  Westhaven, — safely,  but  very,  very  poor.  They  pos- 
sessed the  clothes  they  wore  on  their  journey,  a  bed  or  two,  a  few 
— very  few— domestic  utensils,  an  antique  chest,  and  one  or  two 
other  small  relics  of  their  former  state ;  and  they  possessed  nothing 
more. 

A  lady,  who  was  then  a  little  girl,  and,  as  little  girls  in  the  coun- 
try will,  used  to  run  in  and  out  of  the  neighbors'  houses  at  all  hours 
without  ceremony,  tells  me  that,  many  times,  during  that  winter, 
she  saw  the  newly-arrived  family  taking  sustenance  in  the  follow- 
ing manner  : — A  five-quart  milk-pan  filled  with  bean  porridge — an 
hereditary  dish  among  the  Scotch-Irish — was  placed  upon  the  floor, 
the  children  clustering  around  it.  Each  child  was  provided  with  a 
spoon,  and  dipped  into  the  porridge,  the  spoon  going  directly  from 
the  common  dish  to  the  particular  mouth,  without  an  intermediate 
landing  upon  a  plate,  the  meal  consisting  of  porridge,  and  porridge 
only.  The  parents  sat  at  a  table,  and  enjoyed  the  dignity  of  a  sep- 
arate dish.  This  was  a  homely  way  of  dining ;  but,  adds  my  kind 
informant,  "  they  seemed  so  happy  over  their  meal,  that  many  a 
time,  as  I  looked  upon  the  group,  I  wished  our  mother  would  let  its 
eat  in  that  way — it  seemed  so  much  better  than  sitting  at  a  table 
and  using  knives,  and  forks,  and  plates."  There  was  no  repining  in 
the  family  over  their  altered  circumstances,  nor  any  attempt  to  con- 
ceal the  scantiness  of  their  furniture.  To  what  the  world  calls  "  ap- 
pearances" they  seemed  constitutionally  insensible. 


CHAPTER    V. 

AT  WESTHAVEN,   VERMONT. 

Description  of  the  country — Clearing  up  Land — All  the  family  assist  a  la  Swiss-Fam- 
ily-Robinson—Primitive costume  of  Horace— His  early  indifference  to  dress— His 
manner  and  attitude  in  school — A  Peacemaker  among  the  boys — Gets  into  a  scrape, 
and  out  of  it— Assists  his  school-fellows  in  their  studies— An  evening  scene  at 
home — Horace  knows  too  much — Disconcerts  his  teachers  by  his  questions — Leaves 
school— The  pine  knots  still  blaze  on  the  hearth— Reads  incessantly— Becomes  a 
great  draught  player — Bee-hunting — Reads  at  the  Mansion  House — Taken  for  an 
Idiot— And  for  a  possible  President— Reads  Mrs.  Hemans  with  rapture— A  Wolf 
Story — A  Pedestrian  Journey — Horace  and  the  horseman — Yoking  the  Oxen — 
Scene  with  an  old  Soaker— Rum  in  Westhaven— Horace's  First  Pledge— Narrow 
escape  from  drowning — His  religious  doubts — Becomes  a  Universalist — Discovers 
the  humbug  of  "  Democracy  "—Impatient  to  begin  his  apprenticeship. 

THE  family  were  gainers  in  some  important  particulars,  by  their 
change  of  residence.  The  land  was  better.  The  settlement  was 
more  recent.  There  was  a  better  chance  for  a  poor  man  to  acquire 
property.  And  what  is  well  worth  mention  for  its  effect  upon  the 
opening  mind  of  Horace,  the  scenery  was  grander  and  more  various. 
That  part  of  Kutland  county  is  in  nature's  large  manner.  Long 
ranges  of  hills,  with  bases  not  too  steep  for  cultivation,  but  rising 
into  lofty,  precipitous  and  fantastic  summits,  stretch  away  in  every 
direction.  The  low-lands  are  level  and  fertile.  Brooks  and  rivers 
come  out  from  among  the  hills,  where  they  have  been  officiating  as 
water-power,  and  flow  down  through  valleys  that  open  and  expand 
to  receive  them,  fertilizing  the  soil.  Roaming  among*  these  hills, 
the  boy  must  have  come  frequently  upon  little  lakes  locked  in  on 
every  side,  without  apparent  outlet  or  inlet,  as  smooth  as  a  mirror, 
as  silent  as  the  grave.  Three  miles  from  his  father's  house  was.the 
great  Lake  Champlain.  He  could  not  see  it  from  his  father's  door, 
but  he  could  see  the  blue  mist  that  rose  from  its  surface  every 
morning  and  evening,  and  hung  over  it,  a  cloud  veiling  a  Mystery. 
And  he  could  see  the  long  line  of  green  knoll-like  hills  that 
formed  its  opposite  shore.  And  he  could  go  down  on  Sundays  to 
Tie  shore  itself,  and  stand  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  lake. 

3* 


58  AT    WESTHAVEN,   VERMONT. 

Nor  is  it  a  slight  thing  for  a  boy  to  see  a  great  natural  object  which 
he  has  been  learning  about  in  his  school  books ;  nor  is  it  an  unin- 
fluential  circumstance  for  him  to  live  where  he  can  see  it  frequent- 
ly. It  was  a  superb  country  for  a  boy  to  grow  up  in,  whether  his 
tendencies  were  industrial,  or  sportive,  or  artistic,  or  poetical. 
There  was  rough  work  enough  to  do  on  the  land.  Fish  were 
abundant  in  the  lakes  and  streams.  Game  abounded  in  the  woods. 
Wild  grapes  and  wild  honey  were  to  be  had  for  the  search  after 
them.  Much  of  the  surrounding  scenery  is  sublime,  and  what  is 
not  sublime  is  beautiful.  Moreover,  Lake  Ohamplain  is  a  stage  on 
the  route  of  northern  and  southern  travel,  and  living  upon  its  shores 
brought  the  boy  nearer  to  that  world  in  which  he  was  destined  to 
move,  and  which  he  had  to  know  before  he  could  work  in  it  to 
advantage.  At  Westhaven,  Horace  passed  the  next  five  years  of 
his  life.  He  was  now  rather  tall  for  his  age ;  his  mind  was  far  in 
advance  of  it.  Many  of  the  opinions  for  which  he  has  since  done 
battle,  were  distinctly  formed  during  that  important  period  of  his 
life  to  which  the  present  chapter  is  devoted. 

At  "Westhaven,  Mr.  Greeley,  as  they  say  in  the  country, 
'  took  jobs ;'  and  the  jobs  which  he  took  were  of  various  kinds. 
He  would  contract  to  get  in  a  harvest,  to  prepare  the  ground 
for  a  new  one,  to  '  tend '  a  saw-mill ;  but  his  principal  employ- 
ment was  clearing  up  land ;  that  is,  piling  up  and  burning  the  trees 
after  they  had  been  felled.  After  a  time  he  kept  sheep  and  cat- 
tle. In  most  of  his  undertakings  he  prospered.  By  incessant  labor 
and  by  reducing  his  expenditures  to  the  lowest  possible  point,  he 
saved  money,  slowly  but  continuously. 

In  whatever  he  engaged,  whether  it  was  haying,  harvesting, 
sawing,  or  land-clearing,  he  was  assisted  by  all  his  family.  There 
was  little  work  to  do  at  home,  and  after  breakfast,  the  house  was 
left  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  away  went  the  family,  father,  mother, 
boys,  girls,  and  oxen,  to  work  together.  Clearing  land  offers  an 
excellent  field  for  family  labor,  as  it  affords  work  adapted  to  all  de- 
grees of  strength.  The  father  chopped  the  larger  logs,  and  direct- 
ed the  labor  of  all  the  company.  Horace  drove  the  oxen,  and 
drove  them  none  too  well,  say  the  neighbors,  and  was  gradually 
supplanted  in  the  office  of  driver  by  his  younger  brother.  Both 
the  boys  could  ehop  the  smaller  trees.  Their  mother  and  sisters 


PRIMITIVE    COSTUME    OF   HORACE.  59 

gathered  together  the  light  wood  into  heaps.  And  when  the 
great  logs  had  to  be  rolled  upon  one  another,  there  was  scope  for 
the  combined  skill  and  strength  of  the  whole  party.  Many  happy 
and  merry  days  the  family  spent  together  in  this  employment. 
The  mother's  spirit  never  flagged.  Her  voice  rose  in  song  and 
laughter  from  the  tangled  brush-wood  in  which  she  was  often  bur- 
ied; and  no  word,  discordant  or  unkind,  was  ever  known  to 
break  the  perfect  harmony,  to  interrupt  the  perfect  good  humor 
that  prevailed  in  the  family.  At  night,  they  went  home  to  the 
most  primitive  of  suppers,  and  partook  of  it  in  the  picturesque  and 
labor-saving  style  in  which  the  dinner  before  alluded  to  was  con- 
sumed. The  neighbors  still  point  out  a  tract  of  fifty  acres  which 
was  cleared  in  this  sportive  and  Swiss-Family-Kobinson-like  man- 
ner. They  show  the  spring  on  the  side  of  the  road  where  the  fam- 
ily used  to  stop  and  drink  on  their  way ;  and  they  show  a  hem- 
lock-tree, growing  from  the  rocks  above  the  spring,  which  used 
to  furnish  the  brooms,  nightly  renewed,  which  swept  the  little 
house  in  which  the  little  family  lived.  To  complete  the  picture, 
imagine  them  all  clad  in  the  same  material,  the  coarsest  kind  of 
linen  or  linsey-woolsey,  home-spun,  dyed  with  butternut  bark, 
and  the  different  garments  made  in  the  roughest  and  simplest  man- 
ner by  the  mother. 

More  than  three  garments  at  the  same  time,  Horace  seldom  wore  in 
the  summer,  and  these  were — a  straw  hat,  generally  in  a  state  of 
dilapidation,  a  tow-shirt,  never  buttoned,  a  pair  of  trousers  made  of 
the  family  material,  and  having  the  peculiarity  of  being  very  short 
in  both  legs,  but  shorter  in  one  than  the  other.  In  the  winter  he 
added  a  pair  of  shoes  and  a  jacket.  During  the  five  years  of  his 
life  at  Westhaven,  probably  his  clothes  did  not  cost  three  dollars  a 
year ;  and,  I  believe,  that  during  the  whole  period  of  his  childhood, 
up  to  the  time  when  he  came  of  age,  not  fifty  dollars  in  all  were 
expended  upon  his  dress.  He  never  manifested,  on  any  occasion,  in 
any  company,  nor  at  any  part  of  his  early  life,  the  slightest  interest 
in  his  attire,  nor  the  least  care  for  its  effect  upon  others.  That 
amiable  trait  in  human  nature  which  inclines  us  to  decoration, 
which  make  us  desirous  to  present  an  agreeable  figure  to  others, 
and  to  abhor  peculiarity  in  our  appearance,  is  a  trait  which  Horace 
never  gave  the  smallest  evidence  of  possessing. 


60  AT   WESTHAVEN,    VERMONT. 

He  went  to  school  three  winters  in  Westhaven,  but  not  to  any 
great  advantage.  He  had  already  gone  the  round  of  district  school 
studies,  and  did  little  more  after  his  tenth  year  than  walk  over  the 
course,  keeping  lengths  ahead  of  all  competitors,  with  little  effort. 
"  He  was  always,"  says  one  of  his  Westhaven  schoolmates,  "  at 
the  top  of  the  school.  He  seldom  had  a  teacher  that  could  teach 
him  anything.  Once,  and  once  only,  he  missed  a  word.  His  fail- 
face  was  crimsoned  in  an  instant.  He  was  terribly  cut  about  it,  and 
I  fancied  he  was  not  himself  for  a  week  after.  I  see  him  now,  as 
he  sat  in  class,  with  his  slender  body,  his  large  head,  his  open, 
ample  forehead,  his  pleasant  smile,  and  his  coarse,  clean,  homespun 
clothes.  His  attitude  was  always  the  same.  He  sat  with  his  arms 
loosely  folded,  his  head  bent  forward,  his  legs  crossed,  and  one  foot 
swinging.  He  did  not  seem  to  pay  attention,  but  nothing  escaped 
him.  He  appeared  to  attend  more  from  curiosity  to  hear  what  sort  of 
work  we  made  of  the  lesson  than  from  any  interest  he  took  in  the 
subject  for  his  own  sake.  Once,  I  parsed  a  word  egregiously  wrong, 
and  Horace  was  so  taken  aback  by  the  mistake  that  he  was  startled 
from  his  propriety,  and  exclaimed,  loud  enough  for  the  class  to  hear 
him,  '  What  a  fool !'  The  manner  of  it  was  so  ludicrous  that  I,  and 
all  the  class,  burst  into  laughter." 

Another  schoolmate  remembers  him  chiefly  for  his  gentle  manner 
and  obliging  disposition.  "  I  never,"  she  says,  u  knew  him  to  fight, 
or  to  be  angry,  or  to  have  an  enemy.  He  was  a  peacemaker  among 
us.  He  played  with  the  boys  sometimes,  and  I  think  was  fonder 
of  snowballing  than  any  other  game.  For  girls,  as  girls,  he  never 
manifested  any  preference.  On  one  occasion  he  got  into  a  scrape. 
He  had  broken  some  petty  rule  of  the  school,  and  was  required,  as 
a  punishment,  to  inflict  a  certain  number  of  blows  upon  another 
boy,  who  had,  I  think,  been  a  participator  in  the  offence.  The  in- 
strument of  flagellation  was  placed  in  Horace's  hand,  and  he  drew 
off,  as  though  he  was  going  to  deal  a  terrific  blow,  but  it  came 
down  so  gently  on  the  boy's  jacket  that  every  one  saw  that  Horace 
was  shamming.  The  teacher  interfered,  and  told  him  to  strike 
harder ;  and  a  little  harder  he  did  strike,  but  a  more  harmless  flog- 
ging was  never  administered.  He  seemed  not  to  have  the  power, 
any  more  than  the  will,  to  inflict  pain." 

If  Horace  got  little  good  himself  from  his  last  winters  at  school, 


DISCONCERTS   HIS    TEACHERS.  61 

he  was  of  great  assistance  to  his  schoolfellows  in  explaining  to  them 
the  difficulties  of  their  lessons.  Few  evenings  passed  in  which 
some  strapping  fellow  did  not  come  to  the  house  with  his  grammar 
or  his  slate,  and  sit  demurely  by  the  side  of  Horace,  while  the  dis- 
tracting sum  was  explained,  or  the  dark  place  in  the  parsing  les- 
son illuminated.  The  boy  delighted  to  render  such  assistance. 
However  deeply  he  might  be  absorbed  in  his  own  studies,  as  soon 
as  he  saw  a  puzzled  countenance  peering  in  at  the  door,  he  knew 
his  man,  knew  what  was  wanted ;  and  would  jump  up  from  his 
recumbent  posture  in  the  chimney-corner,  and  proceed,  with  a 
patience  that  is  still  gratefully  remembered,  with  a  perspicuity  that 
is  still  mentioned  with  admiration,  to  impart  the  information  re- 
quired of  him.  Fancy  it.  It  is  a  pretty  picture.  The  '  little  white- 
headed  fellow '  generally  so  abstracted,  now  all  intelligence  and  ani- 
mation, by  the  side  of  a  great  hulk  of  a  young  man,  twice  his  age 
and  three  times  his  weight,  with  a  countenance  expressing  perplex- 
ity and  despair.  An  apt  question,  a  reminding  word,  a  few  figures 
hastily  scratched  on  the  slate,  and  light  flushes  on  the  puzzled  mind. 
He  wonders  he  had  not  thought  of  that :  he  wishes  Heaven  had 
given  Mm  such  a  '  head-piece.' 

To  some  of  his  teachers  at  Westhaven,  Horace  was  a  cause  of 
great  annoyance.  He  knew  too  much.  He  asked  awkward  ques- 
tions. He  was  not  to  be  put  off  with  common-place  solutions  of 
serious  difficulties.  He  wanted  things  to  hang  together,  and  liked 
to  know  how,  if  this  was  true,  that  could  be  true  also.  At  length, 
one  of  his  teachers,  when  Horace  was  thirteen  years  old,  had  the 
honesty  and  good  sense  to  go  to  his  father,  and  say  to  him,  point 
blank,  that  Horace  knew  more  than  he  did,  and  it  was  of  no  use  for 
him  to  go  to  school  any  more.  So  Horace  remained  at  home,  read 
hard  all  that  winter  in  a  little  room  by  himself,  and  taught  his 
youngest  sister  beside.  He  had  attended  district  school,  altogether, 
about  forty-five  months. 

At  Westhaven,  the  pine-knots  blazed  on  the  hearth  as  brightly 
and  as  continuously  as  they  had  done  at  the  old  home  in  Amherst. 
There  was  a  new  reason  why  they  should ;  for  a  candle  was  a  lux- 
ury now,  too  expensive  to  be  indulged  in.  Horace's  home  was  a 
favorite  evening  resort  for  the  children  of  the  neighborhood — a  fact 
which  says  much  for  the  kindly  spirit  of  its  inmates.  They  cam» 


62  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

to  hear  his  mother's  songs  and  stories,  to  play  with  his  brother  and 
sisters,  to  get  assistance  from  himself;  and  they  liked  to  be  there, 
where  there  was  no  stiffness,  nor  ceremony,  nor  discord.  Horace 
cared  nothing  for  their  noise  and  romping,  but  he  could  never  be 
induced  to  join  in  an  active  game.  When  he  was  not  assisting 
some  bewildered  arithmetician,  he  lay  in  the  old  position,  on  his 
back  in  the  fireplace,  reading,  always  reading.  The  boys  would 
hide  his  book,  but  he  would  get  another.  They  would  pull  him  out 
of  his  fiery  den  by  the  leg  ;  and  he  would  crawl  back,  without  the 
least  show  of  anger,  but  without  the  slightest  inclination  to  yield 
the  point. 

There  was  a  game,  however,  which  could  sometimes  tempt  him 
from  his  book,  and  of  which  he  gradually  became  excessively  fond. 
It  was  draughts,  or  '  checkers.'  In  that  game  he  acquired  extraor- 
dinary skill,  beating  everybody  in  the  neighborhood  ;  and  before  he 
had  reached  maturity,  there  were  few  draught-players  in  the  coun- 
try— if  any — who  could  win  two  games  in  three  of  Horace  Greeley. 
His  cronies  at  Westhaven  seem  to  have  been  those  who  were  fond 
of  draughts.  In  his  passion  for  books,  he  was  alone  among  his 
companions,  who  attributed  his  continual  reading  more  to  indolence 
than  to  his  acknowledged  superiority  of  intelligence.  It  was  often 
predicted  that,  whoever  else  might  prosper,  Horace  never  would. 

And  yet,  he  gave  proof,  in  very  early  life,  that  the  Yankee  ele- 
ment was  strong  within  him.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  always  do- 
ing something ;  and,  in  the  second,  he  always  had  something  to  sell. 
He  saved  nuts,  and  exchanged  them  at  the  store  for  the  articles  he 
wished  to  purchase.  He  would  hack  away,  hours  at  a  time,  at  a 
pitch-pine  stump,  the  roots  of  which  are  as  inflammable  as  pitch 
itself,  and,  tying  up  the  roots  in  little  bundles,  and  the  little  bundles 
into  one  large  one,  he  would  "  back"  the  load  to  the  store,  and  sell 
it  for  kindling  wood.  His  favorite  out-door  sport,  too,  at  West- 
haven,  was  bee-hunting,  which  is  not  only  an  agreeable  and  excit- 
ing pastime,  but  occasionally  rewards  the  hunter  with  a  prodigious 
mess  of  honey — as  much  as  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  having  been 
frequently  obtained  from  a  single  tree.  This  was  profitable  sport, 
and  Horace  liked  it  amazingly.  His  share  of  the  honey  generally 
found  its  way  to  the  store.  By  these  and  other  expedients,  the  boy 
managed  always  to  have  a  little  money,  and  when  a  pedler  came 


TAKEN   FOR    AN   IDIOT.  Ot> 

along  with  books  in  his  wagon,  Horace  was  pretty  sure  to  be  his 
customer.  Yet  he  was  only  half  a  Yankee.  He  could  earn  money, 
but  the  bargaining  faculty  he  had  not. 

"What  did  he  read  ?  Whatever  he  could  get.  But  his  preference 
was  for  history,  poetry,  and — newspapers.  He  had  read,  as  I  have 
before  mentioned,  the  whole  Bible  before  he  was  six  years  old.  He 
read  the  Arabian  Nights  with  intense  pleasure  in  his  eighth  year  ; 
Eobinson  Crusoe  in  his  ninth ;  Shakspeare  in  his  eleventh ;  in  his 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  years,  he  read  a  good  many  of 
the  common,  superficial  histories  —  Robertson's,  Goldsmith's,  and 
others— and  as  many  tales  and  romances  as  he  could  borrow.  At 
Westhaven,  as  at  Amherst,  he  roamed  far  and  wide  in  search  of 
books.  He  was  fortunate,  too,  in  living  near  the  i  mansion-house' 
before  mentioned,  the  proprietor  of  which,  it  appears,  took  some  in- 
terest in  Horace,  and,  though  he  would  not  lend  him  books,  allow- 
ed him  to  come  to  the  house  and  read  there  as  often  and  as  long  as 
he  chose. 

A  story  is  told  by  one  who  lived  at  the  *  mansion-house'  when 
Horace  used  to  read  there.  Horace  entered  the  library  one  day, 
when  the  master  of  the  house  happened  to  be  present,  in  conversa- 
tion with  a  stranger.  The  stranger,  struck  with  the  awkwardness 
and  singular  appearance  of  the  boy,  took  him  for  little  better  than 
an  idiot,  and  was  inclined  to  laugh  at  the  idea  of  lending  books  to 
' such  a  fellow  as  that'  The  owner  of  the  mansion  defended  his 
conduct  by  extolling  the  intelligence  of  his  protege,  and  wound  up 
with  the  usual  climax,  that  he  should  "  not  be  surprised,  sir,  if  that 
boy  should  come  to  be  President  of  the  United  States."  People  in 
those  days  had  a  high  respect  for  the  presidential  office,  and  really 
believed — many  of  them  did — that  to  get  the  highest  place  it  was 
only  necessary  to  be  the  greatest  man.  Hence  it  was  a  very  com- 
mon mode  of  praising  a  boy,  to  make  the  safe  assertion  that  he 
might,  one  day,  if  he  persevered  in  well-doing,  be  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  That  was  before  the  era  of  wire-pulling  and 
rotation  in  office.  He  must  be  either  a  very  young  or  a  very  old 
man  who  can  now  mention  the  presidential  office  in  connection 
with  the  future  of  any  boy  not  extraordinarily  vicious.  Wire-pull- 
ing, happily,  has  robbed  the  schoolmasters  of  one  of  their  bad  argu- 
ments for  a  virtuous  life.  Bat  we  are  wandering  from  the  library. 


64  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

The  end  of  the  story  is,  that  the  stranger  looked  as  if  he  thought 
Horace's  defender  half  mad  himself;  and,  "to  tell  the  truth,"  said 

the  lady  who  told  me  the  story,  "  we  all  thought  Mr. had  made 

a  crazy  speech."  Horace  does  not  appear  to  have  made  a  favorable 
impression  at  the  '  mansion-house.' 

But  he  read  the  books  in  it,  for  all  that.  Perhaps  it  was  there, 
that  he  fell  in  with  a  copy  of  Mrs.  Hemans'  poems,  which,  where- 
ever  he  found  them,  were  the  first  poems  that  awakened  his  enthu- 
siasm, the  first  writings  that  made  him  aware  of  the  better  impulses 
of  his  nature.  "  I  remember,"  he  wrote  in  the  Kose  of  Sharon  for 
1841,  "  as  of  yesterday,  the  gradual  unfolding'  of  the  exceeding 
truthfulness  and  beauty,  the  profound  heart-knowledge  (to  coin  a 
Germanism)  which  characterizes  Mrs.  Hemans'  poems,  upon  my 
own  immature,  unfolding  mind.  — '  Cassabianca,'  '  Things  that 
change,'  '  The  Voice  of  Spring,'  '  The  Traveller  at  the  Source  of 
the  Nile,'  '  The  "Wreck,'  and  many  other  poems  of  kindred  nature 
are  enshrined  in  countless  hearts — especially  of  those  whose  intel- 
lectual existence  dates  its  commencement  between  1820  and  1830 — 
as  gems  of  priceless  value ;  as  spirit- wands,  by  whose  electric  touch 
they  were  first  made  conscious  of  the  diviner  aspirations,  the  loft- 
ier, holier  energies  within  them." 

Such  a  testimony  as  this  may  teach  the  reader,  if  he  needs  the 
lesson,  not  to  undervalue  the  authors  whom  his  fastidious  taste 
may  place  among  the  Lesser  Lights  of  Literature.  To  you,  fastid- 
ious reader,  those  authors  may  have  little  to  impart.  But  among 
the  hills  in  the  country,  where  the  feelings  are  fresher,  and  minds 
are  unsated  by  literary  sweets,  there  may  be  many  a  thoughtful  boy 
and  earnest  man,  to  whom  your  Lesser  Lights  are  Suns  that  warm, 
illumine,  and  quicken ! 

The  incidents  in  Horace's  life  at  Westhaven  were  few,  and  of  the 
few  that  did  occur,  several  have  doubtless  been  forgotten.  The 
people  there  remember  him  vividly  enough,  and  are  profuse  in  im- 
parting their  general  impressions  of  his  character;  but  the  facts 
which  gave  rise  to  those  impressions  have  mostly  escaped  their 
memories.  They  speak  of  him  as  an  absorbed  boy,  who  rarely 
saluted  or  saw  a  passer-by — who  would  walk  miles  at  the  road-side, 
following  the  zig-zag  of  the  fences,  without  once  looking  up — who 
was  often  taken  by  strangers  for  a  natural  fool,  but  was  known  by 


A  WOLF  STORY.  6*> 

his  intimates  to  be,  in  the  language  of  one  of  them — "  a  darned 
smart  fellow,  in  spite  of  his  looks  " — who  was  utterly  blameless  in 
all  his  ways,  and  works,  and  words — who  had  not,  and  could  not 
have  had,  an  enemy,  because  nature,  by  leaving  out  of  his  compo- 
sition the  diabolic  element,  had  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  be 
one.  The  few  occurrences  of  the  boy's  life,  which,  in  addition  to 
these  general  reminiscences  of  his  character,  have  chanced  to  escape 
oblivion,  may  as  well  be  narrated  here. 

As  an  instance  of  his  nervous  timidity,  a  lady  mentions,  that 
when  he  was  about  eleven  years  old,  he  came  to  her  house  one  even- 
ing on  some  errand,  and  staid  till  after  dark.  He  started  for  home, 
at  length,  but  had  not  been  gone  many  minutes  before  he  burst  into 
the  house  again,  in  great  agitation,  saying  he  had  seen  a  wolf  by 
the  side  of  the  road.  There  had  been  rumors  of  wolves  in  the 
neighborhood.  Horace  declared  he  had  seen  the  eyes  of  one  glar- 
ing upon  him  as  he  passed,  and  he  was  so  overcome  with  terror, 
that  two  of  the  elder  girls  of  the  family  accompanied  him  home. 
They  saw  no  wolf,  nor  were  there  any  wolves  about  at  the  time ; 
the  mistake  probably  arose  from  some  phosphorescent  wood,  or 
some  other  bright  object.  A  Vermont  boy  of  that  period,  as  a  gen- 
eral thing,  cared  little  more  for  a  wolf  than  a  New  York  boy  does 
for  a  cat,  and  could  have  faced  a  pack  of  wolves  with  far  less  dread 
than  a  company  of  strangers.  Horace  was  never  abashed  by  an 
audience;  but  two  glaring  eye-balls  among  the  brush- wood  sent 
him  flying  with  terror. 

In  nothing  are  mortals  more  wise  than  in  their  fears.  That  which 
we  stigmatize  as  cowardice — what  is  it  but  nature's  kindly  warning 
to  her  children,  not  to  confront  what  they  cannot  master,  and  not 
to  undertake  what  their  strength  is  unequal  to  ?  Horace  was  a 
match  for  a  rustic  auditory,  and  he  feared  it  not.  He  was  not  a 
match  for  a  wild  beast ;  so  he  ran  away.  Considerate  nature ! 

Horace,  all  through  his  boyhood,  kept  his  object  of  becoming  a 
printer,  steadily  in  view ;  and  soon  after  coming  to  Vermont,  about 
his  eleventh  year,  he  began  to  think  it  time  for  him  to  take  a  step 
towards  the  fulfilment  of  his  intention.  He  talked  to  his  father  on 
the  subject,  but  received  no  encouragement  from  him.  His  father 
said,  and.  very  truly,  that  no  one  would  take  an  apprentice  so  young. 
But  the  boy  was  not  satisfied ;  and,  one  morning,  he  trudged  off  to 


66  AT    WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

Whitehall,  a  town  about  nine  miles  distant,  where  a  newspaper  was 
published,  to  make  inquiries.  He  went  to  the  printing  office,  saw 
the  printer,  and  learned  that  his  father  was  right.  He  was  too 
young,  the  printer  said ;  and  so  the  boy  trudged  home  again. 

A  few  months  after,  he  went  on  another  and  much  longer  pedes- 
trian expedition.  He  started,  with  seventy-five  cents  in  his  pocket 
and  a  small  bundle  of  provisions  on  a  stick  over  his  shoulder,  to 
walk  to  Londonderry,  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  distant,  to  see 
his  old  friends  and  relatives.  He  performed  the  journey,  stayed  sev- 
ral  weeks,  and  came  back  with  a  shilling  or  two  more  money  than 
he  took  with  him — owing,  we  may  infer,  to  the  amiable  way  aunts 
and  uncles  have  of  bestowing  small  coins  upon  nephews  who  visit 
them.  His  re-appearance  in  IsTew  Hampshire  excited  unbounded 
astonishment,  his  age  and  dimensions  seeming  ludicrously  out  of 
proportion  to  the  length  and  manner  of  his  solitary  journey.  He 
was  made  much  of  during  his  stay,  and  his  journey  is  still  spoken 
of  there  as  a  wonderful  performance,  only  exceeded,  in  fact,  by 
Horace's  second  return  to  Londonderry  a  year  or  two  after,  when 
he  drove  over  the  same  ground,  his  aunt  and  her  four  children,  in 
a  '  one-horse  wagon,'  and  drove  back  again,  without  the  slightest 
accident. 

As  a  set-off  to  these  marvels,  it  must  be  recorded,  that  on  two 
other  occasions  he  was  taken  for  an  idiot — once,  when  he  entered 
a  store,  in  one  of  the  brownest  of  his  brown  studies,  and  a  stranger 
inquired,  "What  darn  fool  is  that?" — and  a  second  time,  in  the 
manner  following.  He  was  accustomed  to  call  his  father  "  Sir? 
both  in  speaking  to,  and  speaking  of  him.  One  day,  while  Horace 
was  chopping  wood  by  the  side  of  the  road,  a  man  came  up  on 
horse-back  and  inquired  the  way  to  a  distant  town.  Horace  could 
not  tell  him,  and,  without  looking  up,  said,  "  ask  Sir?  meaning,  ask 
father.  The  stranger,  puzzled  at  this  reply,  repeated  his  question, 
and  Horace  again  said,  "ask  Sir."  "I  am  asking,"  shouted  the 
man.  "  Well,  ask  Sir?  said  Horace,  once  more.  "  Aint  I  asking, 
you — fool,"  screamed  the  man.  "  But  I  want  you  to  ask  Sir?  said 
Horace.  It  was  of  no  avail,  the  man  rode  away  in  disgust,  and 
inquired  at  the  next  tavern  "who  that  tow-headed  fool  was  down 
the  road." 

In  a  similar  absent  fit  it  must  have  been,  that  the  boy  once  at- 


YOKING   THE    OXEN.  67 

tempted,  in  vain,  to  yoke  the  oxen  that  he  had  yoked  a  hundred 
times  before  without  difficulty.  To  see  a  small  boy  yoking  a  pair 
of  oxen  is,  O  City  Keader,  to  behold  an  amazing  exhibition  of  the 
power  of  Mind  over  Matter.  The  huge  beasts  need  not  come  under 
the  yoke — twenty  men  could  not  compel  them — -but  they  do  come 
under  it,  at  the  beck  of  a  boy  that  can  just  stagger  under  the  yoke 
himself,  and  whom  one  of  the  oxen,  with  one  horn  and  a  shake  of 
the  head,  could  toss  over  a  hay-stack.  The  boy,  with  the  yoke  on 
his  shoulders,  and  one  of  the  '  bows '  in  his  hand,  marches  up  to 
the  '  off '  ox,  puts  the  bow  round  his  neck,  thrusts  the  ends  of  the 
bow  through  the  holes  of  the  yoke,  fastens  them  there— and  one 
ox  is  his.  But  the  other !  The  boy  then  removes  the  other  bow, 
holds  up  the  end  of  the  yoke,  and  commands  the  '  near '  ox  to 
approach,  and  'come  under  here  sir.'  Wonderful  to  relate!  the 
near  ox  obeys !  He  walks  slowly  up,  and  takes  his  place  by  the 
side  of  his  brother,  as  though  it  were  a  pleasant  thing  to  pant  all 
day  before  the  plough,  and  he  was  only  too  happy  to  leave  the  dull 
pasture.  But  the  ox  is  a  creature  of  habit.  If  you  catch  the  near 
ox  first,  and  then  try  to  get  the  off  ox  to  come  under  the  near  side 
of  the  yoke,  you  will  discover  that  the  off  ox  has  an  opinion  of  his 
own.  He  won't  come.  This  was  the  mistake  which  Horace,  one 
morning  in  an  absent  fit,  committed,  and  the  off  ox  could  not  be 
brought  to  deviate  from  established  usage.  After  much  coaxing, 
and,  possibly,  some  vituperation,  Horace  was  about  to  give  it  up, 
when  his  brother  chanced  to  come  to  the  field,  who  saw  at  a  glance 
what  was  the  matter,  and  rectified  the  mistake.  "Ah !"  his  father 
used  to  say,  after  Horace  had  made  a  display  of  this  kind,  "  that 
boy  will  never  get  along  in  this  world.  He  '11  never  know  more 
than  enough  to  come  in  when  it  rains." 

Another  little  story  is  told  of  the  brothers.  The  younger  was 
throwing  stones  at  a  pig  that  preferred  to  go  in  a  direction  exactly 
contrary  to  that  in  which  the  boys  wished  to  drive  him — a  com- 
mon case  with  pigs,  et  ceteri.  Horace,  who  never  threw  stones  at 
pigs,  was  overheard  to  say,  "  Now,  you  ought  n't  to  throw  stones 
at  that  hog ;  he  don't  ~know  anything." 

The  person  who  heard  these  words  uttered  by  the  boy,  is  one  of 
those  libulant  individuals  who,  in  the  rural  districts,  are  called  *  old 
soakers,'  and  his  face,  tobacco-stained,  and  rubicund  with  the 


68  AT    WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

drinks  of  forty  years,  gleamed  with  the  light  of  other  days,  as  he 
hiccoughed  out  the  little  tale.  It  may  serve  to  show  how  the  boy 
is  remembered  in  Westhaven,  if  I  add  a  word  or  two  respecting  my 
interview  with  this  man.  I  met  him  on  an  unfrequented  road ;  his 
hair  was  gray,  his  step  wcs  tottering ;  and  thinking  it  probable  he 
might  be  able  to  add  to  my  stock  of  reminiscences,  I  asked  him 
whether  he  remembered  Horace  Greeley.  He  mumbled  a  few 
words  in  reply ;  but  I  perceived  that  he  was  far  gone  towards  in- 
toxication, and  soon  drove  on.  A  moment  after,  I  heard  a  voice  call- 
ing behind  me.  I  looked  round,  and  discovered  that  the  voice  was 
that  of  the  soaker,  who  was  shouting  for  me  to  stop.  I  alighted 
and  went  back  to  him.  And  now  that  the  idea  of  my  previous 
questions  had  had  time  to  imprint  itself  upon  his  half-torpid  brain, 
his  tongue  was  loosened,  and  he  entered  into  the  subject  with  an 
enthusiasm  that  seemed  for  a  time  to  burn  up  the  fumes  that  had 
stupefied  him.  He  was  full  of  his  theme ;  and,  besides  confirming 
much  that  I  had  already  heard,  added  the  story  related  above,  from 
his  own  recollection.  As  the  tribute  of  a  sot  to  the  champion  of 
the  Maine-Law,  the  old  man's  harangue  was  highly  interesting. 

That  part  of  the  town  of  Westhaven  was,  thirty  years  ago,  a 
desperate  place  for  drinking.  The  hamlet  in  which  the  family 
lived  longer  than  anywhere  else  in  the  neighborhood,  has  ceased  to 
exist,  and  it  decayed  principally  through  the  intemperance  of  its 
inhabitants.  Much  of  the  land  about  it  has  not  been  improved  in 
the  least  degree,  from  what  it  was  when  Horace  Greeley  helped  to 
clear  it ;  and  drink  has  absorbed  the  means  and  the  energy  which 
should  have  been  devoted  to  its  improvement.  A  boy  growing  up 
in  such  a  place  would  be  likely  to  become  either  a  drunkard  or  a 
tee-totaller,  according  to  his  organization ;  and  Horace  became  the 
latter.  It  is  rather  a  singular  fact,  that,  though  both  his  parents 
and  all  their  ancestors  were  accustomed  to  the  habitual  and  liberal 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  tobacco,  neither  Horace  nor  his 
brother  could  ever  be  induced  to  partake  of  either.  They  had  a 
constitutional  aversion  to  the  taste  of  both,  long  before  they  under- 
stood the  nature  of  the  human  system  well  enough  to  know  that 
stimulants  of  all  kinds  are  necessarily  pernicious.  Horace  was 
therefore  a  tee-totaller  before  tee-totalism  came  up,  and  he  took  a 
sort  of  pledge  before  the  pledge  was  invented.  It  happened  one 


NARROW  ESCAPE   PROM   DROWNING.  69 

day  that  a  neighbor  stopped  to  take  dinner  with  the  family,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  bottle  of  rum  was  brought  out  for  his 
entertainment.  Horace,  it  appears,  either  tasted  a  little,  or  else 
took  a  disgust  at  the  smell  of  the  stuff,  or  perhaps  was  offended  at 
the  effects  which  he  saw  it  produce.  An  idea  struck  him.  He 
said,  "  Father,  what  will  you  give  me  if  I  do  not  drink  a  drop  of 
liquor  till  I  am  twenty -one  ?"  His  father,  who  took  the  question  as 
a  joke,  answered,  "  I'll  give  you  a  dollar."  "  It's  a  bargain,"  said 
Horace.  And  it  was  a  bargain,  at  least  on  the  side  of  Horace,  who 
kept  his  pledge  inviolate,  though  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  he 
ever  received  his  dollar.  Many  were  the  attempts  made  by  his 
friends,  then  and  afterwards,  to  induce  him  to  break  his  resolution, 
and  on  one  occasion  they  tried  to  force  some  liquor  into  his  mouth. 
But  from  the  day  on  which  the  conversation  given  above  occurred, 
to  this  day,  he  has  not  knowingly  taken  into  his  system  any  alco- 
holic liquid. 

At  Westhaven,  Horace  incurred  the  second  peril  of  his  life.  He 
was  nearly  strangled  in  coming  into  the  world  ;  and,  in  his  thirteenth 
year,  he  was  nearly  strangled  out  of  it.  The  family  were  then 
living  on  the  banks  of  the  Hubbarton  river,  a  small  stream  which 
supplied  power  to  the  old  *  Tryon  Sawmill,'  which  the  father,  as- 
sisted by  his  boys,  conducted  for  a  year  or  two.  Across  the  river, 
where  it  was  widened  by  the  dam,  there  was  no  bridge,  and  people 
were  accustomed  to  get  over  on  a  floating  saw-log,  pushing  along 
the  log  by  means  of  a  pole.  The  boys  were  floating  about  in  the 
river  one  day,  when  the  log  on  which  the  younger  brother  was 
standing,  rolled  over,  and  in  went  the  boy,  over  head  and  ears, 
into  water  deep  enough  to  drown  a  giraffe.  He  rose  to  the  surface 
and  clung  to  the  bark  of  the  log,  but  was  unable  to  get  upon  it 
from  the  same  cause  as  that  which  had  prevented  his  standing  upon 
it — it  would  roll.  Horace  hastened  to  his  assistance.  He  got  upon 
the  log  to  which  his  brother  was  clinging,  lay  down  upon  it,  and 
put  down  a  hand  for  his  brother  to  grasp.  His  brother  did  grasp 
it,  and  pulled  with  so  much  vigor,  that  the  log  made  another  rev- 
olution, and  in  went  Horace.  Neither  of  the  boys  could  swim. 
They  clung  to  the  log  and  screamed  for  assistance ;  but  no  one  hap- 
pened to  be  near  enough  to  hear  them.  At  length,  the  younger  of 
the  drowning  pair  managed,  by  climbing  over  Horace,  and  sousing 


70  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

him  completely  under  the  log,  to  get  out.  Horace  emerged,  half- 
drowned,  and  again  hung  for  life  at  the  rough  bark.  But  the  future 
hero  of  ten  thousand  paragraphs  was  not  to  be  drowned  in  a  mill- 
pond  ;  so  the  log  floated  into  shallower  water,  when,  by  making  a 
last,  spasmodic  effort,  he  succeeded  in  springing  up  high  enough  to 
get  safely  upon  its  broad  back.  It  was  a  narrow  escape  for  both  ; 
but  Horace,  with  all  his  reams  of  articles  forming  in  his  head,  came 
as  near  taking  a  summary  departure  to  that  bourn  where  no 
TEIBUNE  could  have  been  set  up,  as  a  boy  could,  and  yet  not  go. 
He  went  dripping  home,  and  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  ad- 
venture in  due  time. 

This  was  Horace  Greeley's  first  experience  of  '  log-rolling.'  It 
was  not  calculated  to  make  him  like  it. 

One  of  the  first  subjects  which  the  boy  seriously  considered,  and 
perhaps  the  first  upon  which  he  arrived  at  a  decided  opinion,  was 
Eeligion.  And  this  was  the  more  remarkable  from  the  fact,  that 
his  education  at  home  was  not  of  a  nature  to  direct  his  attention 
strongly  to  the  subject.  Both  of  his  parents  assented  to  the  Ortho- 
dox creed  of  New  England ;  his  father  inherited  a  preference  for 
the  Baptist  denomination ;  his  mother  a  leaning  to  the  Presbyter- 
ian. But  neither  were  members  of  a  church,  find  neither  were  par- 
ticularly devout.  The  father,  however,  was  somewhat  strict  in 
certain  observances.  He  would  not  allow  novels  and  plays  to  be 
read  in  the  house  on  Sundays,  nor  an  heretical  book  at  any  time. 
The  family,  when  they  lived  near  a  church,  attended  it  with  con- 
siderable regularity — Horace  among  the  rest.  Sometimes  the  father 
would  require  the  children  to  read  a  certain  number  of  chapters  in 
the  Bible  on  Sunday.  And  if  the  mother — as  mothers  are  apt  to 
be — was  a  little  less  scrupulous  upon  such  points,  and  occasionally 
winked  at  Sunday  novel-reading,  it  certainly  did  not  arise  from  any 
set  disapproval  of  her  husband's  strictness.  It  was  merely  that  she 
was  the  mother,  he  the  father,  of  the  family.  The  religious  educa- 
tion of  Horace  was,  in  short,  of  a  nature  to  leave  his  mind,  not  un- 
biased in  favor  of  orthodoxy — that  had  been  almost  impossible  in 
New  England  thirty  years  ago — but  as  nearly  in  equilibrium  on  the 
subject,  in  a  state  as  favorable  to  original  inquiry,  as  the  place  and 
circumstances  of  his  early  life  rendered  possible. 

There  was  not  in  Westhaven  one  individual  who  was  known  to 


THE    STORY    OP   DEMETRIUS.  71 

be  a  dissenter  from  the  established  faith ;  nor  was  there  any  dis- 
senting sect  or  society  in  the  vicinity ;  nor  was  any  periodical  of  a 
heterodox  character  taken  in  the  neighborhood;  nor  did  any  heret- 
ical works  fall  in  the  boy's  way  till  years  after  his  religions  opinions 
were  settled.  Yet,  from  the  age  of  twelve  he  began  to  doubt; 
and  at  fourteen — to  use  the  pathetic  language  of  one  who  knew 
him  then — "  he  was  little  better  than  a  Universalist." 

The  theology  of  the  seminary  and  the  theology  of  the  farm-house 
are  two  different  things.  They  are  as  unlike  as  the  discussion  of  the 
capital  punishment  question  in  a  debating  society  is  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  same  question  among  a  company  of  criminals  ac- 
cused of  murder.  The  unsophisticated,  rural  mind  meddles  not 
with  the  metaphysics  of  divinity;  it  takes  little  interest  in  the 
Foreknowledge  and  Free-will  difficulty,  in  the  Election  and  Kespon- 
sibility  problem,  and  the  manifold  subtleties  connected  therewith. 
It  grapples  with  a  simpler  question  : — '  Am  I  in  danger  of  being 
damned  ?'  '  Is  it  likely  that  I  shall  go  to  hell,  and  be  tormented  with 
burning  sulphur,  and  the  proximity  of  a  serpent,  forever,  and  ever, 
and  ever  ?'  To  minds  of  an  ampler  and  more  generous  nature,  the 
same  question  presents  itself,  but  in  another  form : — Is  it  a  fact  that 
nearly  every  individual  of  the  human  family  will  forever  fail  of  at- 
taining the  WELFARE  of  which  he  was  created  capable,  and  be '  lost^ 
beyond  the  hope,  beyond  the  possibility  of  recovery  ?'  Upon  the 
latter  form  of  the  inquiry,  Horace  meditated  much,  and  talked 
often  during  his  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  years.  When  his  com- 
panions urged  the  orthodox  side,  he  would  rather  object,  but  mildly, 
and  say  with  a  puzzled  look,  "  It  don't  seem  consistent." 

While  he  was  in  the  habit  of  revolving  such  thoughts  in  his  mind, 
a  circumstance  occurred  which  accelerated  his  progress,  towards  a 
rejection  of  the  damnation  dogma.  It  was  nothing  more  than  his 
chance  reading  in  a  school-book  of  the  history  of  Demetrius  Polior- 
cetes.  The  part  of  the  story  which  bore  upon  the  subject  of  his 
thoughts  may  be  out-lined  thus : — 

Demetrius,  (B.  C.  301,)  surnamed  Poliorcetes,  besieger  of  cities, 
was  the  son  of  Antigonus,  one  of  those  generals  whom  the  death 
qf  Alexander  the  Great  left  masters  of  the  world.  Demetrius  was 
one  of  the  '  fast '  princes  of  antiquity,  a  handsome,  brave,  ingen- 


72  AT   WKSTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

nous  man,  but  vain,  rash  and  dissolute.     He  and  his  father  ruled 
ov^er  Asia  Minor  and  Syria.    Greece  was  under  the  sway  of  Cassander 
and  Ptolemy,  who  had  re-established  in  Athens  aristocratic  institu- 
tions, and  held  the  Athenians  in  servitude.    Demetrius,  who  aspired 
to  the  glory  of  succoring  the  distressed,  and  was  not  averse  to  re- 
ducing the  power  of  his  enemies,  Cassander  and  Ptolemy,  sailed 
to  Athens  with  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  ships,  expelled  the 
garrison  and  obtained  possession  of  the  city.     Antigorus  had  been 
advised  to  retain  possession  of  Athens,  the  key  of  Greece ;  but  he 
replied : — "  The  best  and  securest  of  all  keys  is  the  friendship  of 
the  people,  and  Athens  was  the  watch-tower  of  the  world,  from 
whence  the  torch  of  his  glory  would  blaze  over  the  earth."     Ani- 
mated by  such  sentiments,  his  son,  Demetrius,  on  reaching  the  city, 
had  proclaimed  that  "his  father,  in  a  happy  hour,  he  hoped,  for 
Athens,  had  sent  him  to  re-instate  them  in  their  liberties,  and  to  re- 
store their  laws  and  ancient  form  of  government."     The  Athen- 
ians received  him  with  acclamations.     He  performed  all  that  he 
promised,  and  more.     He  gave  the  people  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  measures  of  meal,  and  timber  enough  to  build  a  hundred 
galleys.    The  gratitude  of  the  Athenians  was  boundless.     They  be- 
stowed upon  Demetrius  the  title  of  king  and  god-protector.     They 
erected  an  altar  upon  the  spot  where  he  had  first  alighted  from  his 
chariot.    They  created  a  priest  iu  his  honor,  and  decreed  that  he 
should  be  received  in  all  his  future  visits  as  a  god.     They  changed 
the  name  of  the  month  Munychion  to  Demetrion,  called  the  last 
day  of  every  month  Demetrius,  and  the  feasts  of  Bacchus  Demetria. 
"  The  gods,"  says  the  good  Plutarch,  "soon  showed  how  much  of- 
fended they  were  at  these  things."    Demetrius  enjoyed  these  ex- 
travagant honors  for  a  time,  added  an  Athenian  wife  to  the  number 
he  already  possessed,  and  sailed  away  to  prosecute  the  war.    A  sec- 
ond time  the  Athenians  were  threatened  with  the  yoke  of  Cassander ; 
again  Demetrius,  with  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  ships, 
came  to  their  deliverance,  and  again  the  citizens  taxed  their  ingenu- 
ity to  the  utmost  in  devising  for  their  deliverer  new  honors  and  more 
piquant  pleasures.     At  length  Demetrius,  after  a  career  of  victory, 
fell  into  misfortune.     His  domains  were  invaded,  his  father  was 
slain,  the  kingdom  was  dismembered,  and  Demetrius,  with  a  rem- 
nant of  his  army,  was  obliged  to  fly.    Beaching  Ephesus  in  want  of 


THE    STORY    OF    DEMETRIUS.  73 

money,  he  spared  the  temple  filled  with  treasure ;  and  fearing  his 
soldiers  would  plunder  it,  left  the  place  and  embarked  for  Greece. 
His  dependence  was  upon  the  Athenians,  with  whom  he  had  left  his 
wife,  his  ships,  and  his  money.  Confidently  relying  upon  their  af- 
fection and  gratitude,  he  pursued  his  voyage  with  all  possible  ex- 
pedition as  to  a  secure  asylum.  But  the  fickle  Athenians  failed  him 
in  his  day  of  need  I  At  the  Cyclades,  Athenian  ambassadors  met 
him,  and  mocked  him  with  the  entreaty  that  he  would  by  no  means 
go  to  Athens,  as  the  people  had  declared  by  an  edict,  that  they 
would  receive  no  king  into  the  city ;  and  as  for  his  wife,  he  could 
find  her  at  Megare,  whither  she  had  been  conducted  with  the  re- 
spect due  to  her  rank.  Demetrius,  who  up  to  that  moment  had 
borne  his  reverses  with  calmness,  was  cut  to  the  heart,  and  over- 
come by  mingled  disgust  and  rage.  He  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
avenge  the  wrong.  He  expostulated  with  the  Athenians  in  mod- 
erate terms,  and  waited  only  to  be  joined  by  his  galleys,  and  turned 
his  back  upon  the  ungrateful  country.  Time  passed.  Demetrius 
again  became  powerful.  Athens  was  rent  by  factions.  Availing 
himself  of  the  occasion,  the  injured  king  sailed  with  a  consider- 
able fleet  to  Attica,  landed  his  forces  and  invested  the  city,  which 
was  soon  reduced  to  such  extremity  of  famine  that  a  father  and 
son,  it  is  related,  fought  for  the  possession  of  a  dead  mouse  that 
happened  to  fall  from  the  ceiling  of  the  room  in  which  they  were 
sitting.  The  Athenians  were  compelled,  at  length,  to  open  their 
gates  to  Demetrius,  who  marched  in  with  his  troops.  He  com- 
manded all  the  citizens  to  assemble  in  the  theatre.  They  obeyed. 
Utterly  at  his  mercy,  they  expected  no  mercy,  felt  that  they  deserved 
no  mercy.  The  theatre  was  surrounded  with  armed  men,  and  on 
each  side  of  the  stage  was  stationed  a  body  of  the  king's  own 
guards.  Demetrius  entered  by  the  tragedian's  passage,  advanced 
across  the  stage,  and  confronted  the  assembled  citizens,  who  await- 
ed in  terror  to  hear  the  signal  for  their  slaughter.  But  no  such 
signal  was  heard.  He  addressed  them  in  a  soft  and  persuasive 
tone,  complained  of  their  conduct  in  gentle  terms,  forgave  their  in- 
gratitude, took  them  again  into  favor,  gave  the  city  a  hundred  thou- 
sand measures  of  wheat,  and  promised  the  re-establishment  of  their 
ancient  institutions.  The  people,  relieved  from  their  terror,  aston- 
ished at  their  good  fortune,  and  filled  with  enthusiasm  at  such 

4 


74  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

generous    forbearance,    overwhelmed    Demetrius    with    acclama- 
tions. 

Horace  was  fascinated  by  the  story.  He  thought  the  conduct  of 
Demetrius  not  only  magnanimous  and  humane,  but  just  and  politic. 
Sparing  the  people,  misguided  by  their  leaders,  seemed  to  him  the 
best  way  to  make  them  ashamed  of  their  ingratitude,  and  the  best 
way  of  preventing  its  recurrence.  And  he  argued,  if  mercy  is  best 
and  wisest  on  a  small  scale,  can  it  be  less  so  on  a  large  ?  If  a  man 
is  capable  of  such  lofty  magnanimity,  may  not  God  be  who  made 
man  capable  of  it.  If,  in  a  human  being,  revenge  and  jealousy  are 
despicable,  petty  and  vulgar,  what  impiety  is  it  to  attribute  such 
feelings  to  the  beneficent  Father  of  the  Universe  ?  The  sin  of  the 
Athenians  against  Demetrius  had  every  element  of  enormity. 
Twice  he  had  snatched  them  from  the  jaws  of  ruin.  Twice  he 
had  supplied  their  dire  necessity.  Twice  he  had  refused  all  reward 
except  the  empty  honors  they  paid  to  his  name  and  person.  Pie 
had  condescended  to  become  one  of  them  by  taking  a  daughter  of 
Athens  as  his  wife.  He  had  entrusted  his  wife,  his  ships  and  his 
treasure  to  their  care.  Yet  in  the  day  of  his  calamity,  when  for 
the  first  time  it  was  in  their  power  to  render  him  a  service,  when 
he  was  coming  to  them  with  the  remnant  of  his  fortune,  without  a 
doubt  of  their  fidelity,  with  every  reason  to  suppose  that  his  mis- 
fortunes would  render  him  dearer  to  them  than  ever ;  then  it  was 
that  they  determined  to  refuse  him  even  an  admittance  within  their 
gates,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  meet  him  with  mockery  and  sub- 
terfuge. 

Of  the  offences  committed  by  man  against  man,  there  is  one 
which  man  can  seldom  lift  his  soul  up  to  the  height  of  forgiving. 
It  is  to  be  slighted  ,in  the  day  of  his  humiliation  by  those  who 
showed  him  honor  in  the  time  of  his  prosperity.  Yet  man  can 
forgive  even  this.  Demetrius  forgave  it;  and  the  nobler  and 
greater  a  man  is,  the  less  keen  is  his  sense  of  personal  wrong,  the 
less  difficult  it  is  for  him  to  forgive.  The  poodle  must  show  his 
teeth  at  every  passing  dog ;  the  mastiff  walks  majestic  and  serene 
through  a  pack  of  snarling  curs. 

Amid  such  thoughts  as  these,  the  orthodox  theory  of  damnation 
had  little  chance ;  the  mind  of  the  boy  revolted  against  it  more  and 


BECOMES   A    UNIVERSALIST.  VO 

more;  and  the  result  was,  that  he  became  as  our  pious  friend 
lamented,  "little  better  than  a  Universalist" — in  fact  no  better. 
From  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  known  wherever  he  lived  as  a 
champion  of  Universalism,  though  he  never  entered  a  Universalist 
church  till  he  was  twenty  years  old.  By  what  means  he  managed 
to  '  reconcile'  his  new  belief  with  the  explicit  and  unmistakable 
declarations  of  what  he  continued  to  regard  as  Holy  Writ,  or  how 
anybody  has  ever  done  it,  I  do  not  know.  The  boy  appears  to  have 
shed  his  orthodoxy  easily.  His  was  not  a  nature  to  travail  with  a 
new  idea  for  months  and  years,  and  arrive  at  certainty  only  after  a 
struggle  that  rends  the  soul,  and  leaves  it  sore  and  sick  for  life.  He 
was  young  ;  the  iron  of  our  theological  system  had  not  entered  into 
his  soul;  he  took  the  matter  somewhat  lightly  ;  and,  having  arrived 
at  a  theory  of  the  Divine  government,  which  accorded  with  his  own 
gentle  and  forgiving  nature,  he  let  the  rest  of  the  theological  science 
alone,  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

Yet  it  was  no  slight  thing  that  had  happened  to  him.  A  man's 
Faith  is  the  man.  Not  to  have  a  Faith  is  not  to  be  a  man.  Beyond 
all  comparison,  the  most  important  fact  of  a  man's  life  is  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Faith  which  he  adheres  to  and  lives  by.  And  though 
Horace  Greeley  has  occupied  himself  little  with  tilings  spiritual, 
confining  himself,  by  a  necessity  of  his  nature,  chiefly  to  the  pro- 
motion of  material  interests,  yet  I  doubt  not  that  this  early  change 
in  his  religious  belief  was  the  event  which  gave  to  all  his  subse- 
quent life  its  direction  and  character.  "Whether  that  change  was  a 
desirable  one,  or  an  undesirable,  is  a  question  upon  which  the  reader 
of  course  has  a  decided  opinion.  The  following,  perhaps,  may  be 
taken  as  the  leading  consequences  of  a  deliberate  and  intelligent  ex- 
change of  a  severe  creed  in  which  a  person  has  been  educated,  for 
a  less  severe  one  to  which  he  attains  by  the  operations  of  his  own 
mind: 

It  quickens  his  understanding,  and  multiplies  his  ideas  to  an  extent 
which,  it  is  said,  no  one  who  has  never  experienced  it  can  possibly 
conceive.  It  induces  in  him  a  habit  of  original  reflection  upon  sub- 
jects of  importance.  It  makes  him  slow  to  believe  a  thing,  merely 
because  many  believe  it — merely  because  it  has  long  been  believed. 
It  renders  him  open  to  conviction,  for  he  cannot  forget  that  there 
was  a  time  when  he  held  opinions  which  he  now  clearly  sees  to  be 


76  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

erroneous.  It  dissolves  the  spell  of  Authority ;  it  makes  him  dis- 
trustful of  Great  Names.  It  lessens  his.  terror  of  Public  Opinion ; 
for  he  has  confronted  it — discovered  that  it  shows  more  teeth  than 
it  uses — that  it  harms  only  those  who  fear  it— that  it  bows  at  length 
in  homage  to  him  whom  it  cannot  frighten.  It  throws  him  upon 
his  own  moral  resources.  Formerly,  Fear  came  to  his  assistance  in 
moments  of  temptation ;  hell-fire  rolled  up  its  column  of  lurid  smoke 
before  him  in  the  dreaded  distance.  But  now  he  sees  it  not.  If  he 
has  the  Intelligence  to  know,  the  Heart  to  love,  the  Will  to  choose, 
the  Strength  to  do,  the  RIGHT  ;  he  does  it,  and  his  life  is  high,  and 
pure,  and  noble.  If  Intelligence,  or  Heart,  or  "Will,  or  Strength  is 
wanting  to  him,  he  vacillates  ;  he  is  not  an  integer,  his  life  is  not. 
But,  in  either  case,  his  Acts  are  the  measure  of  his  Worth. 

Moreover,  the  struggle  of  a  heretic  with  the  practical  difficulties 
of  life,  and  particularly  his  early  struggle,  is  apt  to  be  a  hard  one; 
for,  generally,  the  Rich,  the  Respectable,  the  Talented,  and  the 
Virtuous  of  a  nation  are  ranged  on  the  side  of  its  Orthodoxy  in  an 
overwhelming  majority.  They  feel  themselves  allied  with  it — de- 
pendent upon  it.  Above  all,  they  believe  in  it,  and  think  they 
would  be  damned  if  they  did  not.  They  are  slow  to  give  their 
countenance  to  one  who  dissents  from  their  creed,  even  though  he 
aspire  only  to  make  their  shoes,  or  clean  them,  and  though  they 
more  than  suspect  that  the  rival  shoemaker  round  the  corner  keeps 
a  religious  newspaper  on  his  counter  solely  for  the  effect  of  the 
thing  upon  pious  consumers  of  shoe-leather. 

To  depart  from  the  established  Faith,  then,  must  be  accounted  a 
risk,  a  danger,  a  thing  uncomfortable  and  complicating.  But,  from 
the  nettle  Danger,  alone,  we  pluck  the  flower  Safety.  And  he  who 
loves  Truth  first — Advantage  second — will  certainly  find  Truth  at 
length,  and  care  little  at  what  loss  of  Advantage.  So,  let  every 
man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind — with  which  safe  and 
salutary  text  we  may  take  leave  of  matters  theological,  and  resume 
our  story. 

The  political  events  which  occurred  during  Horace  Greeley's 
residence  in  Westhaven  were  numerous  and  exciting ;  some  of 
them  were  of  a  character  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  far  less  for- 
ward and  thoughtful  boy  than  he.  Doubtless  he  read  the  message 
of  President  Monroe  in  1821,  in  which  the  policy  of  Protection 


DISCOVERS   THE    HUMBUG    OF    "  DEMOCRACY."  77 

to  American  Industry  was  recommended  strongly,  and  advocated 
by  arguments  so  simple  that  a  child  could  understand  them;  so 
cogent  that  no  man  could  refute  them — arguments,  in  fact,  pre- 
cisely similar  to  those  which  the  Tribune  has  since  made  familiar 
to  the  country.  In  the  message  of  1822,  the  president  repeated  his 
recommendation,  and  again  in  that  of  1824.  Those  were  the  years 
of  the  recognition  of  the  South  American  Eepublics,  of  the  Greek 
enthusiasm,  of  Lafayette's  triumphal  progress  through  the  Union  ; 
of  the  occupation  of  Oregon,  of  the  suppression  of  Piracy  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico ;  of  the  Clay,  Adams  and  Jackson  controversy.  It 
was  during  the  period  we  are  now  considering,  that  Henry  Clay 
made  his  most  brilliant  efforts  in  debate,  and  secured  a  place  in  the 
affections  of  Horace  Greeley,  which  he  retained  to  his  dying  day. 
It  was  then,  too,  that  the  boy  learned  to  distrust  the  party  who 
claimed  to  be  pre-eminently  and  exclusively  Democratic. 

How  attentively  he  watched  the  course  of  political  events,  how 
intelligently  he  judged  them,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  may  be  inferred 
from  a  passage  in  an  article  which  he  wrote  twenty  years  after,  the 
facts  of  which  he  stated  from  his  early  recollection  of  them  : 

"  The  first  political  contest,"  he  wrote  in  the  TRIBUNE  for  August  29th, 
1846,  "  in  which  we  ever  took  a  distinct  interest  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  dis- 
'tinction  [between  real  and  sham  democracy].  It  was  the  Presidential  Election 
of  1824.  Five  candidates  for  President  were  offered,  but  one  of  them  was 
withdrawn,  leaving  four,  all  of  them  members  in  regular  standing  of  the  so- 
called  Republican  or  Democratic  party.  But  a  caucus  of  one-fourth  of  the 
members  of  Congress  had  selected  one  of  the  four  (William  H.  Crawford)  as 
the  Republican  candidate,  and  it  was  attempted  to  make  the  support  of  this  one 
a  test  of  party  orthodoxy  and  fealty.  This  was  resisted,  we  think  most  justly 
and  democratically,  by  three-fourths  of  the  people,  including  a  large  major- 
ity of  those  of  this  State.  But  among  the  prime  movers  of  the  caucus  wires 
was  Martin  Van  Buren  of  this  State,  and  here  it  was  gravely  proclaimed  and 
insisted  that  Democracy  required  a  blind  support  of  Crawford  in  preference  to 
Adams,  Jackson,  or  Clay,  all  of  the  Democratic  party,  who  were  competitors 
for  the  station.  A  Legislature  was  chosen  as  '  Republican'  before  the  people 
generally  had  begun  to  think  of  the  Presidency,  and,  this  Legislature,  it  was 
undoubtingly  expected,  would  choose  Crawford  Electors  of  President.  But  the 
friends  of  the  rival  candidates  at  length  began  to  bestir  themselves  and  de- 
mand that  the  New  York  Electors  should  be  chosen  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  not  by  a  forestalled  Legislature.  This  demand  was  vehemently  re- 


78  AT   WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

sisted  by  Martin  Van  Buren  and  those  who  followed  his  lead,  including  the 
leading  '  Democratic'  politicians  and  editors  of  the  State,  the  '  Albany  Argus,' 
'  Noah's  Enquirer,  or  National  Advocate,'  &c.  &c.  The  feeling  in  favor  of  an 
Election  by  the  people  became  so  strong  and  general  that  Gov.  Yates,  though 
himself  a  Crawford  man,  was  impelled  to  call  a  special  session  of  the  Legisla- 
ture for  this  express  purpose.  The  Assembly  passed  a  bill  giving  the  choice 
to  the  people  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  in  defiance  of  the  exertions  of 
Van  Buren,  A.  C.  Flagg,  &c.  The  bill  went  to  the  Senate,  to  which  body  Silas 
Wright  had  recently  been  elected  from  the  Northern  District,  and  elected  by 
Clintonian  rotes  on  an  explicit  understanding  that  he  would  vote  for  giving 
the  choice  of  the  Electors  to  the  people.  He  accordingly  voted,  on  one  or  two 
abstract  propositions,  that  the  choice  ought  to  be  given  to  the  people.  But 
when  it  came  to  a  direct  vote,  this  same  Silas  Wright,  now  Governor,  voted  to 
deprive  the'  people  of  that  privilege,  by  postponing  the  whole  subject  to  the 
next  regular  session  of  the  Legislature,  when  it  would  be  too  late  for  the  peo- 
ple to  choose  Electors  for  that  time.  A  bare  majority  (17)  of  the  Senators 
thus  withheld  from  the  people  the  right  they  demanded.  The  cabal  failed  in 
their  great  object,  after  all,  for  several  members  of  the  Legislature,  elected  as 
Democrats,  took  ground  for  Mr.  Clay,  and  by  uniting  with  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Adams  defeated  most  of  the  Crawford  Electors,  and  Crawford  lost  the  Presi- 
dency. We  were  but  thirteen  when  this  took  place,  but  we  looked  on  very 
earnestly,  without  prejudice,  and  tried  to  look  beyond  the  mere  names  by 
which  the  contending  parties  were  called.  Could  we  doubt  that  Democracy 
was  on  one  side  and  the  Democratic  party  on  the  other  7  Will  '  Democrat' 
attempt  to  gainsay  it  now  ? 

Mr.  Adams  was  chosen  President — as  thorough  a  Democrat,  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word,  as  ever  lived — a  plain,  unassuming,  upright,  and  most  ca- 
pable statesman.  He  managed  the  public  affairs  so  well  that  nobody  could 
really  give  a  reason  for  opposing  him,  and  hardly  any  two  gave  the  same  rea- 
son. There  was  no  party  conflict  during  his  time  respecting  the  Bank,  Tariff, 
Internal  Improvements,  nor  anything  else  of  a  substantial  character.  He 
kept  the  expenses  of  the  government  very  moderate.  He  never  turned  a  man 
out  of  office  because  of  a  difference  of  political  sentiment.  Yet  it  was  deter- 
mined at  the  outset  that  he  should  be  put  down,  no  matter  how  well  he  might 
administer  the  government,  and  a  combination  of  the  old  Jackson,  Crawford, 
and  Calhoun  parties,  with  the  personal  adherents  of  Do  Witt  Clinton,  aided  by 
a  shamefully  false  and  preposterous  outcry  that  he  had  obtained  the  Presi- 
dency by  a  bargain  with  Mr.  Clay,  succeeded  in  returning  an  Opposition  Con- 
gress in  the  middle  of  his  term,  and  at  its  close  to  put  in  General  Jackson  over 
him  by  a  large  majority. 

The  character  of  this  man  Jackson  we  had  studied  pretty  thoroughly  and 
without  prejudice.  His  fatal  duel  with  Dickinson  about  a  horse-race ;  his  pis- 
toling Colonel  Benton  in  the  streets  of  Nashville ;  his  forcing  his  way  through 


SHAM    AND    REAL    DEMOCRACY.  79 

the  Indian  country  with  his  drove  of  negroes  in  defiance  of  the  express  order 
of  the  Agent  Dinsmore  ;  his  imprisonment  of  Judge  Hall  at  New  Orleans, 
long  after  the  British  had  left  that  quarter,  and  when  martial  law  ought  long 
since  to  have  been  set  aside  ;  his  irruption  into  Florida  and  capture  of  Spanish 
posts  and  officers  without  a  shadow  of  authority  to  do  so  ;  his  threats  to  cut 
off  the  ears  of  Senators  who  censured  this  conduct  in  solemn  debate — in  short, 
his  whole  life  convinced  us  that  the  man  never  was  a  Democrat,  in  any  proper 
sense  of  the  term,  but  a  violent  and  lawless  despot,  after  the  pattern  of  Caesar, 
Cromwell,  and  Napoleon,  and  unfit  to  be  trusted  with  power.  Of  course,  we 
went  against  him,  but  not  against  anything  really  Democratic  in  him  or  his 
party. 

That  General  Jackson  in  power  justified  all  our  previous  expectations  of  him, 
need  hardly  be  said.  That  he  did  more  to  destroy  the  Republican  character 
of  our  government  and  render  it  a  centralized  despotism,  than  any  other 
man  could  do,  we  certainly  believe.  But  our  correspondent  and  we  would 
probably  disagree  with  regard  to  the  Bank  and  other  questions  which  con- 
vulsed the  Union  during  his  rule,  and  we  will  only  ask  his  attention  to  one 
of  them,  the  earliest,  and,  in  our  view,  the  most  significant. 

The  Cherokee  Indians  owned,  and  had  ever  occupied,  an  extensive  tract  of 
country  lying  within  the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  &c.  It  was 
theirs  by  the  best  possible  title — theirs  by  our  solemn  and  reiterated  Treaty 
stipulations.  We  had  repeatedly  bought  from  them  slices  of  their  lands, 
solemnly  guarantying  to  them  all  that  we  did  not  buy,  and  agreeing  to  de- 
fend them  therein  against  all  agressors.  We  had  promised  to  keep  all  intrud- 
ers out  of  their  territory.  At  least  one  of  these  Treaties  was  signed  by  Gen. 
Jackson  himself ;  others  by  Washington,  Jefferson,  &c.  All  the  usual  pre- 
texts for  agression  upon  Indians  failed  in  this  case.  The  Cherokees  had  been 
our  friends  and  allies  for  many  years  ;  they  had  committed  no  depredations  ; 
they  were  peaceful,  industrious,  in  good  part  Christianized,  had  a  newspaper 
printed  in  their  own  tongue,  and  were  fast  improving  in  the  knowledge  and 
application  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  They  compared  favorably  every  way 
with  their  white  neighbors.  But  the  Georgians  coveted  their  fertile  lands, 
and  determined  to  have  them ;  they  set  them  up  in  a  lottery  and  gambled 
them  off  among  themselves,  and  resolved  to  take  possession.  A  fraudulent 
Treaty  was  made  between  a  few  Cherokees  of  no  authority  or  consideration 
and  sundry  white  agents,  including  one  '  who  stole  the  livery  of  Heaven  to 
serve  the  devil  in,'  but  everybody  scoffed  at  this  mockery,  as  did  ninety-nine 
hundredths  of  the  Cherokees. 

Now  Georgia,  during  Mr.  Adams'  Administration,  attempted  to  extend  her 
jurisdiction  over  these  poor  people.  Mr.  Adams,  finding  remonstrance  of  no 
avail,  stationed  a  part  of  the  army  at  a  proper  point,  prepared  to  drive  all 
intruders  out  of  the  Cherokee  country,  as  we  had  by  treaty  solemnly  engaged 
to  do.  This  answered  the  purpose.  Georgia  blustered,  but  dared  not  go  fur- 


80  AT    WESTHAVEN,  VERMONT. 

ther.  She  went  en  masse  for  Jackson,  of  course.  When  he  came  in,  she  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  extend  her  jurisdiction  over  the  Cherokees  in  very  deed. 
They  remonstrated — pointed  to  their  broken  treaties,  and  urged  the  President 
to  perform  his  sworn  duty,  and  protect  them,  but  in  vain.  Georgia  seized  a 
Cherokee  accused  of  killing  another  Cherokee  in  their  own  country,  tried  him 
for  and  convicted  him  of  murder.  He  sued  out  a  writ  of  error,  carried  the 
case  up  to  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  and  there  obtained  a  decision  in  his  favor, 
establishing  the  utter  illegality  as  well  as  injustice  of  the  acts  of  Georgia  in 
the  premises,  the  validity  of  our  treaties  with  the  Cherokees,  and  the  conse- 
quent duty  of  the  President  to  see  them  enforced,  any  thing  in  any  State-law 
or  edict  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  was  explicitely  affirmed.  But  Presi- 
dent Jackson  decided  that  Georgia  was  right  and  the  Supreme  Court  wrong, 
and  refused  to  enforce  the  decision  of  the  latter.  So  the  Court  was  defied,  the 
Cherokee  hung,  the  Cherokee  country  given  up  to  the  cupidity  of  the  Geor- 
gians, and  its  rightful  owners  driven  across  the  Mississippi,  virtually  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  That  case  changed  the  nature  of  our  Government, 
making  the  President  Supreme  Judge  of  the  Law  as  well  as  its  Chief  Min- 
ister— in  other  words,  Dictator.  "Amen!  Hurrah  for  Jackson!"  said  the 
Pharisaic  Democracy  of  Party  and  Spoils.  We  could  not  say  it  after  them. 
We  considered  our  nation  perjured  in  the  trampling  down  and  exile  of  these 
Cherokees  ;  perjury  would  have  lain  heavy  on  our  soul  had  we  approved  and 
promoted  the  deed. 

On  another  occasion,  when  Silas  Wright  was  nominated  for  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Tribune  broke  forth  :  "  The 
'  notorious  Seventeen ' — what  New-Yorker  has  not  heard  of  them  ? 
— yet  how  small  a  proportion  of  our  present  voting  population  re- 
tain a  vivid  and  distinct  recollection  of  the  outrage  on  Republican- 
ism and  Popular  Eights  which  made  the  '  Seventeen'  sounenviably 
notorious !  The  Editor  of  the  Tribune  is  of  that  proportion,  be  it 
small  or  large.  Though  a  boy  in  1824,  and  living  a  mile  across  the 
Vermont  line  of  the  State,  he  can  never  forget  the  indignation 
awakened  by  that  outrage,  which  made  him  for  ever  an  adversary 
of  the  Albany  Regency  and  the  demagogues  who  here  and  else- 
where made  use  of  the  terms  '  Democracy,'  *  Democrats,'  '  Demo- 
cratic party,'  to  hoodwink  and  cajole  the  credulous  and  unthinking 
— to  divert  their  attention  from  things  to  names — to  divest  them  of 
independent  and  manly  thought,  and  lead  them  blindfold  wherever 
the  intriguers'  interests  shall  dictate — to  establish  a  real  Aristocracy 
under  the  abused  name  of  Democracy.  It  was  1824  which  taught 
many  beside  us  the  nature  of  this  swindle,  and  fired  them  with  un- 


IMPATIENT   TO   BEGIN   HIS   APPRENTICESHIP.  81 

conquerable  zeal  and  resolution  to  defeat  the  fraud  by  exposing  it 
to  the  apprehension  of  a  duped  and  betrayed  people." 

These  extracts  will  assist  the  reader  to  recall  the  political  excite- 
ments of  the  time.  And  he  may  well  esteem  it  extraordinary  for  a 
boy  of  thirteen—an  age  when  a  boy  is,  generally,  most  a  boy — to 
understand  them  so  well,  and  to  be  interested  in  them  so  deeply. 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  remote  country  places, 
where  the  topics  of  conversation  are  few,  all  the  people  take  a  de- 
gree of  interest  in  politics,  and  talk  about  political  questions  with  a 
frequency  and  pertinacity  of  which  the  busy  inhabitants  of  cities 
can  form  little  idea. 

Horace's  last  year  in  Westhaven  (1825)  wore  slowly  away.  He 
had  exhausted  the  schools ;  he  was  impatient  to  be  at  the  types, 
and  he  wearied  his  father  with  importunities  to  get  him  a  place  in 
a  printing-office.  But  his  father  was  loth  to  let  him  go,  for  two 
reasons  :  the  boy  was  useful  at  home,  and  the  cautious  father  feared 
he  would  not  do  well  away  from  home  ;  he  was  so  gentle,  so  ab- 
sent, so  awkward,  so  little  calculated  to  make  his  way  with  stran- 
gers. One  day,  the  boy  saw  in  the  "  Northern  Spectator,"  a  weekly 
paper,  published  at  East  Poultney,  eleven  miles  distant,  au  adver- 
tisement for  an  apprentice  in  the  office  of  the  "  Spectator  "  itself. 
He  showed  it  to  his  father,  and  wrung  from  him  a  reluctant  con- 
sent to  his  applying  for  the  place.  "I  have  n't  got  time  to  go  and 
see  about  it,  Horace ;  but  if  you  have  a  mind  to  walk  over  to  Poult- 
ney and  see  what  you  can  do,  why  you  may." 

Horace  had  a  mind  to. 

4* 


CHAPTER  VI. 

APPEENTICESHIP. 

The  Village  of  East  Poultney— Horace  applies  for  the  Place— Scene  in  the  Garden- 
He  makes  an  Impression — A  difficulty  arises  and  is  overcome — He  enters  the 
office — Rite  of  Initiation — Horace  the  Victor — His  employer's  recollections  of  him 
—The  Pack  of  Cards— Horace  begins  to  paragraph— Joins  the  Debating  Society— 
His  manner  of  Debating— Horace  and  the  Dandy — His  noble  conduct  to  his 
father— His  first  glimpse  of  Saratoga— His  manners  at  the  Table— Becomes  the 
Town-Encyclopedia— The  Doctor's  Story— Recollections  of  one  of  his  fellow  ap- 
prentices— Horace's  favorite  Poets — Politics  of  the  time — The  Anti-Mason  Excite- 
ment—The Northern  Spectator  stops— The  Apprentice  is  Free. 

EAST  POULTNEY  is  not,  decidedly  not,  a  place  which  a  traveler — 
if,  by  any  extraordinary  chance,  a  traveler  should  ever  visit  it — 
would  naturally  suspect  of  a  newspaper.  But,  in  one  of  the  most 
densely-populated  parts  of  the  city  of  New  York,  there  is  a  field  ! 
— a  veritable,  indubitable  field,  with  a  cow  in  it,  a  rough  wooden 
fence  around  it,  and  a  small,  low,  wooden  house  in  the  middle  of  it, 
where  an  old  gentleman  lives,  who  lived  there  when  all  was  rural 
around  him,  and  who  means  to  live  there  all  his  days,  pasturing  his 
cow  and  raising  his  potatoes  on  ground  which  he  could  sell — but 
won't — at  a  considerable  number  of  dollars  per  foot.  The  field  in 
the  metropolis  we  can  account  for.  But  that  a  newspaper  should 
ever  have  been  published  at  East  Poultney,  Rutland  county,  Ver- 
mont, seems,  at  the  first  view  of  it,  inexplicable. 

Yermont,  however,  is  a  land  of  villages ;  and  the  business  which 
is  elsewhere  done  only  in  large  towns  is,  in  that  State,  divided 
among  the  villages  in  the  country.  Thus,  the  stranger  is  astonished 
at  seeing  among  the  few  signboards  of  mere  hamlets,  one  or  two 
containing  most  unexpected  and  metropolitan  announcements,  such 

as,  "  SlLVEESMITH,"  "  ORGAN  FACTORY,"  "  PlANO  FORTES,"  "  PRINT- 
ING OFFICE,"  or  "  PATENT  MELODEONS."  East  Poultney,  for  example, 
is  little  more  than  a  hamlet,  yet  it  once  had  a  newspaper,  and 
boasts  a  small  factory  of  melodeons  at  this  moment.  A  foreigner 


THE    VILLAGE    OF    EAST    POULTNEY.  83 

would  as  soon  expect  to  see  there  an  Italian  opera  house  or  a 
French  cafe. 

The  Poultney  river  is  a  small  stream  that  flows  through  a  valley, 
which  widens  and  narrows,  narrows  and  widens,  all  along  its  course ; 
here,  a  rocky  gorge ;  a  grassy  plain,  beyond.  At  one  of  its  narrow 
places,  where  the  two  ranges  of  hills  approach  and  nod  to  one 
another,  and  where  the  river  pours  through  a  rocky  channel — a 
torrent  on  a  very  small  scale — the  little  village  nestles,  a  cluster  of 
houses  at  the  base  of  an  enormous  hill.  It  is  built  round  a  small 
triangular  green,  in  the  middle  of  which  is  a  church,  with  a  hand- 
some clock  in  its  steeple,  all  complete  except  the  works,  and  bear- 
ing on  its  ample  face  the- date,  1805.  No  village,  however  minute, 
can  get  on  without  three  churches,  representing  the  Conservative, 
the  Enthusiastic,  and  Eccentric  tendencies  of  human  nature ;  and, 
of  course,  East  Poultney  has  three.  It  has  likewise  the  most 
remarkably  shabby  and  dilapidated  school-house  in  all  the  country 
round.  There  is  a  store  or  two ;  but  business  is  not  brisk,  and 
when  a  customer  arrives  in  town,  perhaps,  his  first  difficulty  will  be 
to  find  the  storekeeper,  who  has  locked  up  his  store  and  gone  to 
hoe  in  his  garden  or  talk  to  the  blacksmith.  A  tavern,  a  furnace,  a 
saw-mill,  and  forty  dwelling  houses,  nearly  complete  the  inventory 
of  the  village.  The  place  has  a  neglected  and  '  seedy '  aspect  which 
is  rare  in  New  England.  In  that  remote  and  sequestered  spot,  it 
seems  to  have  been  forgotten,  and  left  behind  in  the  march  of  prog- 
ress ;  and  the  people,  giving  up  the  hope  and  the  endeavor  to  catch 
up,  have  settled  down  to  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  Things  as  they 
Are.  The  village  cemetery,  near  by, — more  populous  far  than  tho 
village,  for  the  village  is  an  old  one — is  upon  the  side  of  a  steep 
ascent,  and  whole  ranks  of  gravestones  bow,  submissive  to  the 
law  of  gravitation,  and  no  man  sets  them  upright.  A  quiet,  slow 
little  place  is  East  Poultney.  Thirty  years  ago,  the  people  were  a 
little  more  wide  awake,  and  there  were  a  few  more  of  them. 

It  was  a  fine  spring  morning  in  the  year  1826,  about  ten  o'clock, 
when  Mr.  Amos  Bliss,  the  manager,  and  one  of  the  proprietors,  of 
the  Northern  Spectator,  '  might  have  been  seen '  in  the  garden  be- 
hind his  house  planting  potatoes.  He  heard  the  gate  open  behind 
him,  and,  without  turning  or  looking  round,  became  dimly  conscious 
of  the  presence  of  a  boy.  But  the  boys  of  country  villages  go  into 


84  APPRENTICESHIP. 

whosesoever  garden  their  wandering  fancy  impels  them,  and  suppos- 
ing this  boy  to  be  one  of  his  own  neighbors,  Mr.  Bliss  continued 
his  work  and  quickly  forgot  that  he  was  not  alone.  In  a  few  min- 
utes, he  heard  a  voice  close  behind  him,  a  strange  voice,  high- 
pitched  and  whining. 

It  said,  "  Are  you  the  man  that  carries  on  the  printing  office  ?" 

Mr.  Bliss  then  turned,  and  resting  upon  his  hoe,  surveyed  the  per- 
son who  had  thus  addressed  him.  He  saw  standing  before  him  a 
boy  apparently  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  of  a  light,  tall,  and  slen- 
der form,  dressed  in  the  plain,  farmer's  cloth  of  the  time,  his  gar- 
ments cut  with  an  utter  disregard  of  elegance  and  fit.  His  trou- 
sers were  exceedingly  short  and  voluminous  ;  he  wore  no  stockings ; 
his  shoes  were  of  the  kind  denominated  'high-lows,'  and  much 
worn  down ;  his  hat  was  of  felt,  '  one  of  the  old  stamp,  with  so 
small  a  brim,  that  it  looked  more  like  a  two-quart  measure  inverted 
than  anything  else ;'  and  it  wras  worn  far  back  on  his  head  ;  his  hair 
was  white,  with  a  tinge  of  orange  at  its  extremities,  and  it  lay 
thinly  upon  a  broad  forehead  and  over  a  head  'rocking  on  shoulders 
which  seemed  too  slender  to  support  the  weight  of  a  member  so 
disproportioned  to  the  general  outline.'  The  general  effect  of  the 
figure  and  its  costume  was  so  outre,  they  presented  such  a  combina- 
tion of  the  rustic  and  ludicrous,  and  the  apparition  had  come  upon 
him  so  suddenly,  that  the  amiable  gardener  could  scarcely  keep 
from  laughing. 

He  restrained  himself,  however,  and  replied,  "  Yes,  I  'm  the 
man." 

"Whereupon  the  stranger  asked,  "  Don't  you  want  a  boy  to  learn 
the  trade?" 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Bliss,  "  we  have  been  thinking  of  it.  Do  you 
want  to  learn  to  print  ?" 

"  I  've  had  some  notion  of  it,"  said  the  boy  in  true  Yankee  fash- 
ion, as  though  he  had  not  been  dreaming  about  it,  and  longing  for 
it  for  years. 

Mr.  Bliss  was  both  astonished  and  puzzled— astonished  that  such 
a  fellow  as  the  boy  looked  to  be,  should  have  ever  thought  of  learn- 
ing to  print,  and  puzzled  how  to  convey  to  him  an  idea  of  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  notion.  So,  with  an  expresssion  in  his  countenance, 
such  as  that  of  a  tender-hearted  dry-goods  merchant  might  be  sup- 


HORACE   APPLIES   FOR    THE   PLACE.  85 

posed  to  assume  if  a  hod-carrier  should  apply  for  a  place  in  the  lace 
department,  he  said,  "  "Well,  my  boy — but,  you  know,  it  takes  con- 
siderable learning  to  be  a  printer.  Have  you  been  to  school  much  ?" 

"  No,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  hav  'nt  had  much  chance  at  school.  I  've 
read  some." 

"  What  have  you  read  ?"  asked  Mr.  Bliss. 

"  Well,  I  Ve  read  some  history,  and  some  travels,  and  a  little  of 
most  everything." 

"  Where  do  you  live  ?" 

"  At  Westhaven." 

"  How  did  you  come  over  ?" 

"I  came  on  foot." 

"  What's  your  name?" 

"  Horace  Greeley." 

Now  it  happened  that  Mr.  Amos  Bliss  had  been  for  the  last  three 
years  an  Inspector  of  Common  Schools,  and  in  fulfilling  the  duties 
of  his  office — examining  and  licensing  teachers — he  had  acquired  an 
uncommon  facility  in  asking  questions,  and  a  fondness  for  that  ex- 
ercise which  men  generally  entertain  for  any  employment  in  which 
they  suppose  themselves  to  excel.  The  youth  before  him  was — in  the 
language  of  medical  students — a  '  fresh  subject,'  and  the  Inspector 
proceeded  to  try  all  his  skill  upon  him,  advancing  from  easy  ques- 
tions to  hard  ones,  up  to  those  knotty  problems  with  which  he  had 
been  wont  to  '  stump'  candidates  for  the  office  of  teacher.  The 
boy  was  a  match  for  him.  He  answered  every  question  promptly, 
clearly  and  modestly.  He  could  not  be  '  stumped'  in  the  ordinary 
school  studies,  and  of  the  books  he  had  read  he  could  gfve  a  correct 
and  complete  analysis.  In  Mr.  Bliss's  own  account  of  the  inter- 
view, he  says,  "  On  entering  into  conversation,  and  a  partial  exam- 
ination of  the  qualifications  of  my  new  applicant,  it  required  but  little 
time  to  discover  that  he  possessed  a  mind  of  no  common  order,  and 
an  acquired  intelligence  far  beyond  his  years.  He  had  had  but  little 
opportunity  at  the  common  school,  but  he  said  '  he  had  read  some,' 
and  what  he  had  read  he  well  understood  and  remembered.  In 
addition  to  the  ripe  intelligence  manifested  in  one  so  young,  and 
whose  instruction  had  been  so  limited,  there  was  a  single-minded- 
ness,  a  truthfulness  and  common  sense  in  what  he  said,  that  at 
once  commanded  my  regard." 


86  APPRENTICESHIP. 

After  half  an  hour's  conversation  with  the  boy,  Mr.  Bliss  intimat- 
ed that  he  thought  he  would  do,  and  told  him  to  go  into  the  print- 
ing-office and  talk  to  the  foreman.  Horace  went  to  the  printing- 
office,  and  there  his  appearance  produced  an  effect  on  the  tender 
minds  of  the  three  apprentices  who  were  at  work  therein,  which 
can  be  much  better  imagined  than  described,  and  which  is  most 
vividly  remembered  by  the  two  who  survive.  To  the  foreman 
Horace  addressed  himself,  regardless  certainly,  oblivious  probably, 
of  the  stare  and  the  remarks  of  the  boys.  The  foreman,  at  first, 
was  inclined  to  wonder  that  Mr.  Bliss  should,  for  one  moment, 
think  it  possible  that  a  boy  got  up  in  that  style  could  perform  the 
most  ordinary  duties  of  a  printer's  apprentice.  Ten  minutes'  talk 
with  him,  however,  effected  a  partial  revolution  in  his  mind  in  the 
boy's  favor,  and  as  he  was  greatly  in  want  of  another  apprentice, 
he  was  not  inclined  to  be  over  particular.  He  tore  off  a  slip  of 
proof-paper,  wrote  a  few  words  upon  it  hastily  with  a  pencil,  and 
told  the  boy  to  take  it  to  Mr.  Bliss.  That  piece  of  paper  was  his 
fate.  The  words  were  :  '  Guess  we  'd  better  try  him.1  Away  went 
Horace  to  the  garden,  and  presented  his  paper.  Mr.  Bliss,  whose 
curiosity  had  been  excited  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  extraordinary 
contrast  between  the  appearance  of  the  boy  and  his  real  quality, 
now  entered  into  a  long  conversation  with  him,  questioned  him 
respecting  his  history,  his  past  employments,  his  parents,  their  cir- 
cumstances, his  own  intentions  and  wishes ;  and  the  longer  he  talk- 
ed, the  more  his  admiration  grew.  The  result  was,  that  he  agreed 
to  accept  Horace  as  an  apprentice,  provided  his  father  would  agree 
to  the  usuaf  terms ;  and  then,  with  eager  steps,  and  a  light  heart, 
the  happy  boy  took  the  dusty  road  that  led  to  his  home  in  West- 
haven. 

"You're  not  going  to  hire  that  tow-head,  Mr.  Bliss,  are  you?" 
asked  one  of  the  apprentices  at  the  close  of  the  day.  "  I  am,"  was 
the  reply,  "  and  if  you  boys  are  expecting  to  get  any  fun  out  of 
him,  you  'd  better  get  it  quick,  or  you  '11  be  too  late.  There 's  some- 
thing in  that  tow-head,  as  you  '11  find  out  before  you  're  a  week 
older." 

A  day  or  two  after  Horace  packed  up  his  wardrobe  in  a  small 
cotton  handkerchief.  Small  as  it  was,  it  would  have  held  more; 
for  its  proprietor  never  had  more  than  two  shirts,  and  one  change 


A   DIFFICULTY   ARISES   AND    IS   OVERCOME.  87 

of  outer-clothing,  at  the  same  time,  till  he  was  of  age.  Father  and 
son  walked,  side  by  side,  to  Poultney,  the  boy  carrying  his  possess- 
ions upon  a  stick  over  his  shoulder. 

At  Poultney,  an  unexpected  difficulty  arose,  which  for  a  time  made 
Horace  tremble  in  his  high-low  shoes.  The  terms  proposed  by  Mr. 
Bliss  were,  that  the  boy  should  be  bound  for  five  years,  and  receive- 
his  board  and  twenty  dollars  a  year.  Now,  Mr.  Greeley  had  ideas 
of  his  own  on  the  subject  of  apprenticeship,  and  he  objected  to  this 
proposal,  and  to  every  particular  of  it.  In  the  first  place,  he  had 
determined  that  no  child  of  his  should  ever  be  bound  at  all.  In  the 
second  place,  he  thought  five  years  an  unreasonable  time ;  thirdly, 
he  considered  that  twenty  dollars  a  year  and  board  was  a  compen- 
sation ridiculously  disproportionate  to  the  services  which  Horace 
would  be  required  to  render ;  and  finally,  on  each  and  all  of  these 
points,  he  clung  to  his  opinion  with  the  tenacity  of  a  Greeley.  Mr. 
Bliss  appealed  to  the  established  custom  of  the  country ;  five  years 
was  the  usual  period ;  the  compensation  offered  was  the  regular 
thing ;  the  binding  was  a  point  essential  to  the  employer's  interest. 
And  at  every  pause  in  the  conversation,  the  appealing  voice  of  Hor- 
ace was  heard :  "  Father,  I  guess  you  'd  better  make  a  bargain  with 
Mr.  Bliss  ;"  or,  "Father,  I  guess  it  won't  make  much  difference  ;" 
or,  "Don't  you  think  you'd  better  do  it,  father?"  At  one  mo- 
ment the  boy  was  reduced  to  despair.  Mr.  Bliss  had  given  it  as 
his  ultimatum  that  the  proposed  binding  was  absolutely  indispensa- 
ble ;  he  "  could  do  business  in  no  other  way."  "  Well,  then,  Hor- 
ace," said  the  father,  "let  us  go  home."  The  father  turned  to  go  ; 
but  Horace  lingered ;  he  could  not  give  it  up ;  and  so  the  father 
turned  again ;  the  negotiation  was  re-opened,  and  after  a  prolonged 
discussion,  a  compromise  was  effected.  What  the  terms  were,  that 
were  finally  agreed  to,  I  cannot  positively  state,  for  the  three  me- 
moirs which  I  have  consulted  upon  the  subject  give  three  different 
replies.  Probably,  however,  they  were — no  binding,  and  no  money 
for  six  months ;  then  the  boy  could,  if  he  chose,  bind  himself  for 
the  remainder  of  the  five  years,  at  forty  dollars  a  year,  the  appren- 
tice to  be  boarded  from  the  beginning.  And  so  the  father  went 
home,  and  the  son  went  straight  to  the  printing  office  and  took  his 
first  lesson  in  the  art  of  setting  type. 

A  few  months  after,  it  may  be  as  well  to  mention  here,  Mr. 


OO  APPRENTICESHIP. 

Greeley  removed  to  Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  bought  soms 
wild  land  there,  from  which  he  gradually  created  a  farm,  leaving 
Horace  alone  in  Vermont.  Grass  now  grows  where  the  little  house 
stood  in  "Westhaven,  in  which  the  family  lived  longest,  and  the  barn 
in  which  they  stored  their  hay  and  kept  their  cattle,  leans  forward 
like  a  kneeling  elephant,  and  lets  in  the  daylight  through  ten 
thousand  apertures.  But  the  neighbors  point  out  the  tree  that 
stood  before  their  front  door,  and  the  tree  that  shaded  the  kitchen 
window,  and  the  tree  that  stood  behind  the  house,  and  the  tree 
whose  apples  Horace  liked,  and  the  bed  of  mint  with  which  he  re- 
galed his  nose.  And  both  the  people  of  Westhaven  and  those  of 
Amherst  assert  that  whenever  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune  revisits 
the  scenes  of  his  early  life,  at  the  season  when  apples  are  ripe,  one 
of  the  things  that  he  is  surest  to  do,  is  to  visit  the  apple  trees  that 
produce  the  fruit  which  he  liked  best  when  he  was  a  boy,  and 
which  he  still  prefers  before  all  the  apples  of  the  world. 

The  new  apprentice  took  his  place  at  the  font,  and  received  from 
the  foreman  his  *  copy,'  composing  stick,  and  a  few  words  of  in- 
struction, and  then  he  addressed  himself  to  his  task.  He  needed 
no  further  assistance.  The  mysteries  of  the  craft  he  seemed  to 
comprehend  intuitively.  He  had  thought  of  his  chosen  vocation 
for  many-  years ;  he  had  formed  a  notion  how  the  types  must  be  ar- 
ranged in  order  to  produce  the  desired  impression,  and,  therefore, 
all  he  had  to  acquire  was  manual  dexterity.  In  perfect  silence, 
without  looking  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  heedless  of  the 
sayings  and  doings  of  the  other  apprentices,  though  they  were  bent 
on  mischief,  and  tried  to  attract  and  distract  his  attention,  Hor- 
ace worked  on,  hour  after  hour,  all  that  day ;  and  when  he  left  the 
office  at  night  could  set  type  better  and  faster  than  many  an  ap- 
prentice who  had  had  a  month's  practice.  The  next  day,  he  worked 
with  the  same  silence  and  intensity.  The  boys  were  puzzled. 
They  thought  it  absolutely  incumbent  on  them  to  perform  an  initiat- 
ing rite  of  some  kind ;  but  the  new  boy  gave  them  no  handle, 
no  excuse,  no  opening.  He  committed  no  greenness,  he  spoke  to  no 
one,  looked  at  no  one,  seemed  utterly  oblivious  of  every  thing  save 
only  his  copy  and  his  type.  They  threw  type  at  him,  but  he  never 
looked  around.  They  talked  saucily  at  him,  but  he  threw  back  no 
retort.  This  would  never  do.  Towards  the  close  of  the  third  day, 


89 

the  oldest  apprentices  took  one  of  the  large  black  balls  with  which 
printers  used  to  dab  the  ink  upon  the  type,  and  remarking  that  in 
his  opinion  Horace's  hair  was  of  too  light  a  hue  for  so  black  an 
art  as  that  which  he  had  undertaken  to  learn,  applied  the  ball, 
well  inked,  to  Horace's  head,  making  four  distinct  dabs.  The  boys, 
the  journeyman,  the  pressman  and  the  editor,  all  paused  in  their 
work  to  observe  the  result  of  this  experiment.  Horace  neither 
spoke  nor  moved.  He  went  on  with  his  work  as  though  nothing 
had  happened,  and  soon  after  went  to  the  tavern  where  he  boarded, 
and  spent  an  hour  in  purifying  his  dishonored  locks.  And  that  was 
all  the  '  fun  '  the  boys  '  got  out '  of  their  new  companion  on  that 
occasion.  They  were  conquered.  In  a  few  days  the  victor  and  the 
vanquished  were  excellent  friends. 

Horace  was  now  fortunately  situated.  Ampler  means  of  acquir- 
ing knowledge  were  within  his  reach  than  he  had  ever  before  en- 
joyed ;  nor  were  there  wanting  opportunities  for  the  display  of  his 
acquisitions  and  the  exercise  of  his  powers. 

"About  this  time,"  writes  Mr.  Bliss,  "  a  sound,  well-read  theologian  and  a 
practical  printer  was  employed  to  edit  and  conduct  the  paper.  This  opened  a 
desirable  school  for  intellectual  culture  to  our  young  debutant.  Debates  en- 
sued ;  historical,  political,  and  religious  questions  were  discussed ;  and  often 
while  all  hands  were  engaged  at  the  font  of  types  ;  and  here  the  purpose  for 
which  our  young  aspirant  "  had  read  some"  was  made  manifest.  Such  was 
the  correctness  of  his  memory  in  what  he  had  read,  in  both  biblical  and  pro- 
fane history,  that  the  reverend  gentleman  was  often  put  at  fault  by  his  correc- 
tions. He  always  quoted  chapter  and  verse  to  prove  the  point  in  dispute.  On 
one  occasion  the  editor  said  that  money  was  the  root  of  all  evil,  when  he  was 
corrected  by  the  ( devil,'  who  said  he  believed  it  read  in  the  Bible  that  the  love 
of  money  was  the  root  of  all  evil. 

"  A  small  town  library  gave  him  access  to  books,  by  which,  together  with 
the  reading  of  the  exchange  papers  of  the  office,  he  improved  all  his  leisure 
hours.  He  became  a  frequent  talker  in  our  village  lyceum,  and  often  wrote 
dissertations. 

"In  the  first  organization  of  our  village  temperance  society,  the  question 
arose  as  to  the  age  when  the  young  might  become  members.  Fearing  lest  his 
own  age  might  bar  him,  he  moved  that  they  be  received  when  they  were  old 
enough  to  drink — which  was  adopted  nem.  con. 

"  Though  modest  and  retiring,  he  was  often  led  into  political  discussions 
with  our  ablest  politicians,  and  few  would  leave  the  field  without  feeling  in- 


90  APPRENTICESHIP. 

structed  by  the  soundness  of  his  views  and  the  unerring  correctness  of  his 
statements  of  political  events. 

"  Having  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  he  bent  his  mind  and  all  his  energies  to  its 
acquisition,  with  unceasing  application  and  untiring  devotion  ;  and  I  doubt  if, 
in  the  whole  term  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  ever  spent  an  hour  in  the  common 
recreations  of  young  men.  He  used  to  pass  my  door  as  he  went  to  his  daily 
meals,  and  though  I  often  sat  near,  or  stood  in  the  way,  so  much  absorbed  did 
he  appear  in  his  own  thoughts — his  head  bent  forward  and  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  ground,  that  I  have  the  charity  to  believe  the  reason  why  he  never 
turned  his  head  or  gave  me  a  look,  was  because  he  had  no  idea  I  was 
there  !" 

On  one  point  the  reminiscences  of  Mr.  Bliss  require  correction. 
He  thinks  that  his  apprentice  never  spent  an  hour  in  the  common 
recreations  of  young  men  during  his  residence  in  Poultney.  Mr. 
Bliss,  however,  was  his  senior  and  his  employer ;  and  therefore 
observed  him  at  a  distance  and  from  above.  But  I,  who  have  con- 
versed with  those  who  were  the  friends  and  acquaintances  of  the 
youth,  can  tell  a  better  story.  He  had  a  remarkable  fondness  for 
games  of  mingled  skill  and  chance,  such  as  whist,  draughts,  chess, 
and  others ;  and  the  office  was  never  without  its  dingy  pack  of 
cards,  carefully  concealed  from  the  reverend  editor  and  the  serious 
customers,  but  brought  out  from  its  hiding-place  whenever  the 
coast  was  clear  and  the  boys  had  a  leisure  hour.  Horace  never 
gambled,  nor  would  he  touch  the  cards  on  Sunday ;  but  the  delight 
of  playing  a  game  occasionally  was  heightened,  perhaps,  by  the  fact 
that  in  East  Poultney  a  pack  of  cards  was  regarded  as  a  thing  ac- 
cursed, not  fit  for  saintly  hands  to  touch.  Bee-hunting,  too,  con- 
tinued to  be  a  favorite  amusement  with  Horace.  "  He  was  always 
ready  for  a  bee-hunt,"  says  one  who  knew  him  well  in  Poultney, 
and  bee-hunted  with  him  often  in  the  woods  above  the  village.  To 
finish  with  this  matter  of  amusement,  I  may  mention  that  a  danc- 
ing-school was  held  occasionally  at  the  village-tavern,  and  Horace 
was  earnestly  (ironically,  perhaps)  urged  to  join  it;  but  he  refused. 
Not  that  he  disapproved  of  the  dance — that  best  of  all  home  recrea- 
tions— but  he  fancied  he  was  not  exactly  the  figure  for  a  quadrille. 
He  occasionally  looked  in  at  the  door  of  the  dancing -room,  but 
never  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  enter  it. 

Until  he  came  to  live  at  Poultney,  Horace  had  never  tried  his  hand 


JOINS   A   DEBATING   SOCIETY.  91 

at  original  composition.  The  injurious  practice  of  writing  '  compo- 
sitions' was  not  among  the  exercises  of  any  of  the  schools  which  he 
had  attended.  At  Poultney,  very  early  in  his  apprenticeship,  he 
began,  not  indeed  to  write,  but  to  compose  paragraphs  for  the  pa- 
per as  he  stood  at  the  desk,  and  to  set  them  in  type  as  he  composed 
them.  They  were  generally  items  of  news  condensed  from  large 
articles  in  the  exchange  papers ;  but  occasionally  he  composed  an 
original  paragraph  of  some  length  ;  and  he  continued  to  render  edi- 
torial assistance  of  this  kind  all  the  while  he  remained  in  the  office. 
The  4  Northern  Spectator'  was  an  '  Adams  paper,'  and  Horace  was 
an  Adams  man. 

The  Debating  Society,  to  which  Mr.  Bliss  alludes,  was  an  impor- 
tant feature  in  the  life  of  East  Poultney.  There  happened  to  be 
among  the  residents  of  the  place,  during  the  apprenticeship  of  Hor- 
ace Greeley,  a  considerable  number  of  intelligent  men,  men  of  some 
knowledge  and  talent— the  editor  of  the  paper,  the  village  doctor, 
a  county  judge,  a  clergyman  or  two,  two  or  three  persons  of  some 
political  eminence,  a  few  well-informed  mechanics,  farmers,  and 
others.  These  gentlemen  had  formed  themselves  into  a  '  Lyceum,' 
before  the  arrival  of  Horace,  and  the  Lyceum  had  become  so 
famous  in  the  neighborhood,  that  people  frequently  came  a  distance 
of  ten  miles  to  attend  its  meetings.  It  assembled  weekly,  in  the 
winter,  at  the  little  brick  school-house.  An  original  essay  was  read 
by  the  member  whose  '  turn '  it  was  to  do  so,  and  then  the  question 
of  the  evening  was  debated ;  first,  by  four  members  who  had  been 
designated  at  the  previous  meeting,  and  after  they  had  each  spoken 
once,  the  question  was  open  to  the  whole  society.  The  questions 
were  mostly  of  a  very  innocent  and  rudimental  character,  as,  *  Is 
novel-reading  injurious  to  society  ?'  'Has  a  person  a  right  to  take 
life  in  self-defence ?'  'Is  marriage  conducive  to  happiness?'  'Do 
we,  as  a  nation,  exert  a  good  moral  influence  in  the  world?'  'Do 
either  of  the  great  parties  of  the  day  carry  out  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  ?'  '  Is  the  Union  likely  to  be  perpetu- 
ated ?'  '  Was  Napoleon  Bonaparte  a  great  man  ?'  '  Is  it  a  person's 
duty  to  take  the  temperance  pledge  ?'  et  cetera. 

Horace  joined  the  society,  the  first  winter  of  his  residence  in 
Poultney,  and,  young  as  he  was,  soon  became  one  of  its  leading 
members.  "  He  was  a  real  giant  at  the  Debating  Society,"  says 


92  APPRENTICESHIP. 

one  of  his  early  admirers.  "  Whenever  he  was  appointed  to  speak 
or  to  read  an  essay,  he  never  wanted  to  be  excused ;  he  was  always 
ready.  He  was  exceedingly  interested  in  the  questions  which  he 
discussed,  and  stuck  to  his  opinion  against  all  opposition — not  dis- 
courteously, but  still  he  stuck  to  it,  replying  with  the  most  perfect 
assurance  to  men  of  high  station  and  of  low.  He  had  one  advan- 
tage over  all  his  fellow  members;  it  was  his  memory.  He  had  read 
everything,  and  remembered  the  minutest  details  of  important 
events  ;  dates,  names,  places,  figures,  statistics — nothing  had  escaped 
him.  He-  was  never  treated  as  a  l)oy  in  the  society,  but  as  a  man 
and  an  equal ;  and  his  opinions  were  considered  with  as  much  de- 
ference as  those  of  the  judge  or  the  sheriff — more,  I  think.  To  the 
graces  of  oratory  he  made  no  pretence,  but  he  was  a  fluent  and 
interesting  speaker,  and  had  a  way  of  giving  an  unexpected  turn  to 
the  debate  by  reminding  members  of  a  fact,  well  known  but  over- 
looked ;  or  by  correcting  a  mi  squotation,  or  by  appealing  to  what 
are  called  first  principles.  He  was  an  opponent  to  be  afraid  of; 
yet  his  sincerity  and  his  earnestness  were  so  evident,  that  those 
whom  he  most  signally  floored  liked  him  none  the  less  for  it.  He 
never  lost  his  temper.  In  short,  he  spoke  in  his  sixteenth  year  just 
as  he  speaks  now ;  and  when  he  came  a  year  ago  to  lecture  in  a 
neighboring  village,  I  saw  before  me  the  Horace  Greeley  of  the 
old  Poultney  '  Forum,'  as  we  called  it,  and  no  other." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  record,  that  Horace  never  made  the 
slightest  preparation  for  the  meetings  of  the  Debating  Society  in 
the  way  of  dress — except  so  far  as  to  put  on  his  jacket.  In  the 
summer,  he  was  accustomed  to  wear,  while  at  work,  two  garments, 
a  shirt  and  trowsers ;  and  when  the  reader  considers  that  his  trow- 
sers  were  very  short,  his  sleeves  tucked  up  above  his  elbows,  his 
shirt  open  in  front,  he  will  have  before  his  mind's  eye  the  picture 
of  a  youth  attired  with  extreme  simplicity.  In  his  walks  about  the 
village,  he  added  to  his  dress  a  straw  hat,  valued  originally  at  one 
shilling.  In  the  winter,  his  clothing  was  really  insufficient.  So,  at 
least,  thought  a  kind-hearted  lady  who  used  to  see  him  pass  her 
window  on  his  way  to  dinner.  "He  never,"  she  says,  "had  an 
overcoat  while  he  lived  here;  and  I  used  to  pity  him  so  much  in 
cold  weather.  I  remember  him  as  a  slender,  pale  little  fellow, 
younger  looking  than  he  really  was,  in  a  brown  jacket  much  too 


tllS    FIRST    GLIMPSE    AT    SARATOGA.  93 

short  for  him.  I  used  to  think  the  winds  would  blow  him  away 
sometimes,  as  he  crept  along  the  fence  lost  in  thought,  with  his 
head  down,  and  his  hands  in  his  pockets.  He  was  often  laughed 
at  for  his  homely  dress,  by  the  boys.  Once,  when  a  very  interest- 
ing question  was  to  be  debated  at  the  school-house,  a  young  man 
who  was  noted  among  us  for  the  elegance  of  his  dress  and  the 
length  of  his  account  at  the  store,  advised  Horace  to  get  a  new  '  rig 
out '  for  the  occasion,  particularly  as  he  was  to  lead  one  of  the 
sides,  and  an  unusually  large  audience  was  expected  to  be  present. 
'  No,'  said  Horace,  '  I  guess  I  'd  better  wear  my  old  clothes  than 
run  in  debt  for  new  ones.'  " 

Now,  forty  dollars  a  year  is  sufficient  to  provide  a  boy  in  the 
country  with  good  and  substantial  clothing  ;  half  the  sum  will  keep 
him  warm  and  decent.  The  reader,  therefore,  may  be  inclined  to 
censure  the  young  debater  for  his  apparent  parsimony ;  or  worse,  for 
an  insolent  disregard  of  the  feelings  of  others ;  or,  worst,  for  a  pride 
that  aped  humility.  The  reader,  if  that  be  the  present  inclination 
of  his  mind,  will  perhaps  experience  a  revulsion  of  feeling  when  he 
is  informed — as  I  now  do  inform  him,  and  on  the  best  authority — 
that  every  dollar  of  the  apprentice's  little  stipend  which  he  could 
save  by  the  most  rigid  economy,  was  piously  sent  to  his  father,  who 
was  struggling  in  the  wilderness  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alleghanies, 
with  the  difficulties  of  a  new  farm,  and  an  insufficient  capital. 
And  this  was  the  practice  of  Horace  Greeley  during  all  the  years 
of  his  apprenticeship,  and  for  years  afterwards ;  as  long,  in  fact,  as 
his  father's  land  was  unpaid  for  and  inadequately  provided  with 
implements,  buildings,  and  stock.  At  a  time  when  filial  piety  may 
be  reckoned  among  the  extinct  virtues,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  record  a 
fact  like  this. 

Twice,  during  his  residence  at  Poultney,  Horace  visited  his 
parents  in  Pennsylvania,  six  hundred  miles  distant,  walking  a  great 
part  of  the  way,  and  accomplishing  the  rest  on  a  slow  canal  boat. 
On  one  of  these  tedious  journeys  he  first  saw  Saratoga,  a  circum- 
stance to  which  he  alluded  seven  years  after,  in  a  fanciful  epistle, 
written  from  that  famous  watering-place,  and  published  in  the 
"New  Yorker": 

"  Saratoga  !  bright  city  of  the  present !  thou  ever-during  one-and-twenty 


94  APPRENTICESHIP. 

of  existence  !  a  wanderer  by  thy  stately  palaces  and  gushing  fountains  salutes 
thee  !  Years,  yet  not  many,  have  elapsed  since,  a  weary  roamer  from  a  dis- 
tant land,  he  first  sought  thy  health-giving  waters.  November's  sky  was 
over  earth  and  him,  and  more  than  all,  over  thee ;  and  its  chilling  blasts 
made  mournful  melody  amid  the  waving  branches  of  thy  ever  verdant  pines. 
Then,  as  now,  thou  wert  a  City  of  Tombs,  deserted  by  the  gay  throng  whose 
light  laughter  re-echoes  so  joyously  through  thy  summer-robed  arbors.  But 
to  him,  thou  wert  ever  a  fairy  land,  and  he  wished  to  quaff  of  thy  Hygeian 
treasures  as  of  the  nectar  of  the  poet's  fables.  One  long  and  earnest  draught, 
ere  its  sickening  disrelish  came  over  him,  and  he  flung  down  the  cup  in  the 
bitterness  of  disappointment  and  disgust,  and  sadly  addressed  him  again  to 
his  pedestrian  journey.  Is  it  ever  thus  with  thy  castles,  Imagination  ?  thy 
pictures,  Fancy  ?  thy  dreams,  0  Hope  1  Perish  the  unbidden  thought  !  A 
health,  in  sparkling  Congress,  to  the  rainbow  of  life  !  even  though  its  prom- 
ise prove  as  shadowy  as  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.  Better  even  the 
dear  delusion  of  Hope — if  delusion  it  must  be — than  the  rugged  reality  of 
listless  despair.  (I  think  I  could  do  this  better  in  rhyme,  if  I  had  not  tres- 
passed in  that  line  already.  However,  the  cabin-conversation  of  a  canal- 
packet  is  not  remarkably  favorable  to  poetry.)  In  plain  prose,  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  mismanagement  about  this  same  village  of  Saratoga.  The  sea 
son  gives  up  the  ghost  too  easily,"  &c.,  &c. 

During  the  four  years  that  Horace  lived  at  East  Poultney,  he 
boarded  for  some  time  at  the  tavern,  which  still  affords  entertain- 
ment for  man  and  beast — i.  e.  pedler  and  horse — in  that  village. 
It  was  kept  by  an  estimable  couple,  who  became  exceedingly  at- 
tached to  their  singular  guest,  and  he  to  them.  Their  recollections 
of  him  are  to  the  following  effect : — Horace  at  that  time  ate  and 
drank  whatever  was  placed  before  him ;  he  was  rather  fond  of  good 
living,  ate  furiously,  and  fast,  and  much.  He  was  very  fond  of  coffee, 
but  cared  little  for  tea.  Every  one  drank  in  those  days,  and  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  drinking  at  the  tavern,  but  Horace  never  could 
be  tempted  to  taste  a  drop  of  anything  intoxicating.  ,"  I  always," 
said  the  kind  landlady,  "  took  a  great  interest  in  young  people,  and 
when  I  saw  they  were  going  wrong,  it  used  to  distress  me,  no  matter 
whom  they  belonged  to  ;  but  I  never  feared  for  Horace.  Whatever 
might  be  going  on  about  the  village  or  in  the  bar-room,  1  always 
knew  he  would  do  right."  He  stood  on  no  ceremony  at  the  table  ; 
\\Qfell  to  without  waiting  to  be  asked  or  helped,  devoured  every- 
thing right  arid  left,  stopped  as  suddenly  as  he  had  begun,  and 


95 

vanished  instantly.  One  day,  as  Horace  was  stretching  his  long 
arm  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  table  in  quest  of  a  distant  dish, 
the  servant,  wishing  to  hint  to  him  in  a  jocular  manner,  that  that K" 
was  not  exactly  the  most  proper  way  of  proceeding,  said,  "  Don't 
trouble  yourself,  Horace,  /  want  to  help  you  to  that  dish,  for,  you 
know,  I  have  a  particular  regard  for  you."  He  blushed,  as  only  a 
boy  with  a  very  white  face  can  blush,  and,  thenceforth,  was  less 
adventurous  in  exploring  the  remoter  portions  of  the  table-cloth. 
"When  any  topic  of  interest  was  started  at  the  table,  he  joined  in  it 
with  the  utmost  confidence,  and  maintained  his  opinion  against 
anybody,  talking  with  great  vivacity,  and  never  angrily.  He  came, 
at  length,  to  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  Town  Encyclopedia,  and  if 
any  one  wanted  to  know  anything,  he  went,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  Horace  Greeley ;  and,  if  a  dispute  arose  between  two  individuals, 
respecting  a  point  of  history,  or  politics,  or  science,  they  referred  it 
to  Horace  Greeley,  and  whomsoever  lie  declared  to  be  right,  was 
confessed  to  be  the  victor  in  the  controversy.  Horace  never  went 
to  a  tea-drinking  or  a  party  of  any  kind,  never  went  on  an  excur- 
sion, never  slept  away  from  home  or  was  absent  from  one  meal 
during  the  period  of  his  residence  at  the  tavern,  except  when 
he  went  to  visit  his  parents.  He  seldom  went  to  church,  but  spent 
the  Sunday,  usually,  in  reading.  He  was  a  stanch  Universalist,  a 
stanch  whig,  and  a  pre-eminently  stanch  anti-Mason.  Thus,  the 
landlord  and  landlady. 

Much  of  this  is  curiously  confirmed  by  a  story  often  told  in  con- 
vivial moments  by  a  distinguished  physician  of  New  York,  who 
on  one  occasion  chanced  to  witness  at  the  Poultney  tavern  the  ex- 
ploits, gastronomic  and  encyclopedic,  to  which  allusion  has  just 
been  made.  "Did  I  ever  tell  you,"  he  is  wont  to  begin,  "  how  and 
where  I  first  saw  my  friend  Horace  Greeley  ?  "Well,  thus  it  hap- 
pened. It  was  one  of  the  proudest  and  happiest  days  of  my  life. 
I  was  a  country  boy  then,  a  farmer's  son,  and  we  lived  a  few  miles 
from  East  Poultney.  On  the  day  in  question  I  was  sent  by  my 
father  to  sell  a  load  of  potatoes  at  the  store  in  East  Poultney,  and 
bring  back  various  commodities  in  exchange.  Now  this  was  the 
first  time,  you  must  know,  that  I  had  ever  been  entrusted  with  so 
important  an  errand.  I  had  been  to  the  village  with  my  father 
often  enough,  but  now  I  was  to  go  alone,  and  I  felt  as  proud  and 


96  APPRENTICESHIP. 

independent  as  a  midshipman  the  first  time  he  goes  ashore  in  com- 
mand of  a  boat.  Big  with  the  fate  of  twenty  bushels  of  potatoes, 
off  I  drove — reached  the  village — sold  out  my  load — drove  round 
to  the  tavern — put  up  my  horses,  and  went  in  to  dinner.  This  going 
to  the  tavern  on  my  own  account,  all  by  myself,  and  paying  my  own 
bill,  was,  I  thought,  the  crowning  glory  of  the  whole  adventure. 
There  were  a  good  many  people  at  dinner,  the  sheriff  of  the  county 
and  an  ex-member  of  Congress  among  them,  and  I  felt  considerably 
abashed  at  first ;  but  I  had  scarcely  begun  to  eat,  when  my  eyes 
fell  upon  an  object  so  singular  that  I  could  do  little  else  than  stare 
at  it  all  the  while  it  remained  in  the  room.  It  was  a  tall,  pale, 
white-haired,  gawky  boy,  seated  at  the  further  end  of  the  table. 
He  was  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  he  was  eating  with  a  rapidity  and 
awkwardness  that  I  never  saw  equaled  before  nor  since.  It  seem- 
ed as  if  he  was  eating  for  a  wager,  and  had  gone  in  to  win.  He 
neither  looked  up  nor  round,  nor  appeared  to  pay  the  least  attention 
to  the  conversation.  My  first  thought  was,  '  This  is  a  pretty  sort 
of  a  tavern  to  let  such  a  fellow  as  that  sit  at  the  same  table  with  all 
these  gentlemen ;  he  ought  to  come  in  with  the  ostler.'  I  thought 
it  strange,  too,  that  no  one  seemed  to  notice  him,  and  I  supposed 
he  owed  his  continuance  at  the  table  to  that  circumstance  alone. 
And  so  I  sat,  eating  little  myself,  and  occupied  in  watching  the  won- 
derful performance  of  this  wonderfal  youth.  At  length  the  conver- 
sation at  the  table  became  quite  animated,  turning  upon  some 
measure  of  an  early  Congress ;  and  a  question  arose  how  certain 
members  had  voted  on  its  final  passage.  There  was  a  difference 
of  opinion;  and  the  sheriff,  a  very  finely-dressed  personage,  I 
thought,  to  my  boundless  astonishment,  referred  the  matter  to  the 
unaccountable  Boy,  saying,  'Aint  that  right,  Greeley  ?'  'No,' 
said  the  Unaccountable,  without  looking  up,  'you  're  wrong.' 
'  There,'  said  the  ex-member,  '  I  told  you  so.'  *  And  you  're 
wrong,  too,'  said  the  still-devouring  Mystery.  Then  he  laid  down 
his  knife  and  fork,  and  gave  the  history  of  the  measure,  explained 
the  state  of  parties  at  the  time,  stated  the  vote  in  dispute,  named 
the  leading  advocates  and  opponents  of  the  bill,  and,  in  short,  gave 
a  complete  exposition  of  the  whole  matter.  I  listened  and  won- 
dered ;  but  what  surprised  me  most  was,  that  the  company  receiv- 
ed his  statement  as  pure  gospel,  and  as  settling  the  question  be- 


rtECOLLECTIONS    OF    ONE    OF   HIS    FELLOW  APPRENTICES.        97 

yond  dispute — as  a  dictionary  settles  a  dispute  respecting  the  spell- 
ing of  a  word.  A  minute  after,  the  boy  left  the  dining-room,  and  I 
never  saw  him  again,  till  I  met  him,  years  after,  in  the  streets  of 
New  York,  when  I  claimed  acquaintance  with  him  as  a  brother 
Vermonter,  and  told  him  this  story,  to  his  great  amusement." 

One  of  his  fellow-apprentices  favors  me  with  some  interesting 
reminiscences.  He  says,  u  I  was  a  fellow-apprentice  with  Horace 
Greeley  at  Poultney  for  nearly  two  years.  We  boarded  together 
during  that  period  at  four  different  places,  and  we  were  constantly 
together."  The  following  passage  from  a  letter  from  this  early 
friend  of  our  hero  will  be  welcome  to  the  reader,  notwithstanding 
its  repetitions  of  a  few  facts  already  known  to  him : — 

Little  did  the  inhabitants  of  East  Poultney,  where  Horace  Greeley  went  to 
reside  in  April,  1826,  as  an  apprentice  to  the  printing  business,  dream  of  the 
potent  influence  he  was  a  few  years  later  destined  to  exert,  not  only  upon  the 
politics  of  a  neighboring  State,  but  upon  the  noblest  and  grandest  philan- 
thropic enterprises  of  the  age.  He  was  then  a  remarkably  plain-looking  unso- 
phisticated lad  of  fifteen,  with  a  slouching,  careless  gait,  leaning  away  for- 
ward as  he  walked,  as  if  both  his  head  and  his  heels  were  too  heavy  for  his 
body.  He  wore  a  wool  hat  of  the  old  stamp,  with  so  small  a  brim,  that  it 
looked  more  like  a  two-quart  measure  inverted  than  a  hat ;  and  he  had  a  sin- 
gular, whining  voice  that  provoked  the  merriment  of  the  older  apprentices,  who 
had  hardly  themselves  outgrown,  in  their  brief  village  residence,  similar  pecu- 
liarities of  country  breeding.  But  the  rogues  could  not  help  pluming  themselves 
upon  their  superior  manners  and  position  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
young  '  stranger '  was  mercilessly  '  taken  in '  by  his  elders  in  the  office,  when- 
ever an  opportunity  for  a  practical  joke  presented  itself. 

But  these  things  soon  passed  away,  and  as  Horace  was  seen  to  be  an  un- 
usually intelligent  and  honest  lad,  he  came  to  be  better  appreciated.  The  office 
ia  which  he  was  employed  was  that  of  the  "  Northern  Spectator,"  a  weekly 
paper  then  published  by  Messrs.  Bliss  &  Dewey,  and  edited  by  E.  GK  Stone, 
brother  to  the  late  Col.  Stone  of  the  N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser.  The  new 
comer  boarded  in  Mr.  Stone's  family,  by  whom  he  was  well  esteemed  for  his 
boyish  integrity  ;  and  Mr.  S.  on  examination  found  him  better  skilled  in  Eng- 
lish grammar,  even  at  that  early  age,  than  were  the  majority  of  school  teach- 
ers in  those  times.  His  superior  intelligence  also  strongly  commended 
him  to  the  notice  of  Amos  Bliss,  Esq.,  one  of  the  firm  already  mentioned) 
then  and  now  a  highly-respectable  merchant  of  East  Poultney,  who  has 
marked  with  pride  and  pleasure  every  successive  step  of  the  '  Westhaven  boy,1 
from  that  day  to  this. 

5 


98  APPRENTICESHIP. 

In  consequence  of  the  change  of  proprietors,  editors  and  other  things  per- 
taining to  the  management  of  the  Spectator  office,  Horace  had,  during  the 
term  of  his  apprenticeship,  about  as  many  opportunities  of  'boarding  round,' 
as  ordinarily  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  country  schoolmaster.  In  1827,  he  boarded 
at  the  'Eagle  tavern,'  which  was  then  kept  by  Mr.  Harlow  Hosford,  and  was 
the  head-quarters  of  social  and  fashionable  life  in  that  pleasant  old  village. 
There  the  balls  and  village  parties  were  had,  there  the  oysters  suppers  came 
off,  and  there  the  lawyers,  politicians  and  village  oracles  nightly  congregated. 
Horace  was  no  hand  for  ordinary  boyish  sports ;  the  rough  and  tumble  games 
of  wrestling,  running,  etc.,  he  had  no  relish  for ;  but  he  was  a  diligent  student 
in  his  leisure  hours,  and  eagerly  read  everything  in  the  way  of  books  and 
papers  that  he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  And  it  was  curious  to  see  what  a  power 
of  mental  application  he  had — a  power  which  enabled  him,  seated  in  the  bar- 
room, (where,  perhaps,  a  dozen  people  were  in  earnest  conversation,)  to  pursue 
undisturbed  the  reading  of  his  favorite  book,  whatever  it  might  be,  with  evi- 
dently as  close  attention  and  as  much  satisfaction  as  if  he  had  been  seated 
alone  in  his  chamber. 

If  there  ever  was  a  self-made  man,  this  same  Horace  Greeley  is  one,  for 
he  had  neither  wealthy  or  influential  friends,  collegiate  or  academic  educa- 
tion, nor  anything  to  start  him  in  the  world,  save  his  own  native  good  sense, 
an  unconquerable  love  of  study,  and  a  determination  to  win  his  way  by  his 
own  efforts.  He  had,  however,  a  natural  aptitude  for  arithmetical  calcula- 
tions, and  could  easily  surpass,  in  his  boyhood,  most  persons  of  his  age  in  the 
facility  and  accuracy  of  his  demonstrations ;  and  his  knowledge  of  grammar 
has  been  already  noted.  He  early  learned  to  observe  and  remember  political 
statistics,  and  the  leading  men  and  measures  of  the  political  parties,  the  va- 
rious and  multitudinous  candidates  for  governor  and  Congress,  not  only  in  a 
single  State,  but  in  many,  and  finally  in  all  the  States,  together  with  the  lo- 
cation and  vote  of  this,  that,  and  the  other  congressional  districts,  (whig,  dem- 
ocratic and  what  not,)  at  all  manner  of  elections.  These  things  he  rapidly  and 
easily  mastered,  and  treasured  in  his  capacious  memory,  till  we  venture  to  say 
he  has  few  if  any  equals  at  this  time,  in  this  particular  department,  in  this 
or  any  other  country.  I  never  knew  but  one  man  who  approached  him  in  this 
particular,  and  that  was  Edwin  Williams,  compiler  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Reg- 
ister. 

Another  letter  from  the  same  friend  contains  information  still 
more  valuable.  "  Judging,"  he  writes,  "  from  what  I  do  certainly 
know  of  him,  I  can  say  that  few  young  men  of  my  acquaintance 
grew  up  with  so  much  freedom  from  everything  of  a  vicious  and 
corrupting  nature — so  strong  a  resolution  to  study  everything  in 
the  way  of  useful  knowledge — and  such  a  quick  and  clear  percep- 


POLITICS   OF   THE   TIME.  99 

tion  of  the  queer  and  humorous,  whether  in  print  or  in  actual  life 
His  love  of  the  poets — Byron,  Shakspeare,  etc.,  discovered  itself  in 
boyhood — and  often  have  Greeley  and  I  strolled  off  into  the  woods, 
of  a  warm  day,  with  a  volume  of  Byron  or  Campbell  in  our  pockets, 
and  reclining  in  some  shady  place,  read  it  off  to  each  other  by  the 
hour.  In  this  way,  I  got  such  a  hold  of  *  Childe  Harold,'  the  *  Pleas- 
ures of  Hope,'  and  other  favorite  poems,  that  considerable  portions 
have  remained  ever  since  in  my  memory.  Byron's  apostrophe  to 
the  Ocean,  and  some  things  in  the  [4th]  canto  relative  to  the  men 
and  monuments  of  ancient  Italy,  were,  if  I  mistake  not,  his  special 
favorites — also  the  famous  description  of  the  great  conflict  at 
Waterloo.  '  Mazeppa '  was  also  a  marked  favorite.  And  for  many 
of  Mrs.  Hemans'  poems  he  had  a  deep  admiration." 

The  letter  concludes  with  an  honest  burst  of  indignation; 
"  Knowing  Horace  Greeley  as  I  do  and  have  done  for  thirty  years, 
knowing  his  integrity,  purity,  and  generosity,  I  can  tell  you  one 
thing,  and  that  is,  that  the  contempt  with  which  I  regard  the  slan- 
ders of  certain  papers  with  respect  to  his  conduct,  and  character,  is 
quite  inexpressible.  There  is  doubtless  a  proper  excuse  for  the  con- 
duct of  lunatics,  mad  dogs,  and  rattlesnakes ;  but  I  know  of  no  decent, 
just,  or  reasonable  apology  for  such  meanness  (it  is  a  hard  word,  but 
a  very  expressive  one)  as  the  presses  alluded  to  have  exhibited." 

Horac6  came  to  Poultney,  an  ardent  politician ;  and  the  events 
which  occurred  during  his  apprenticeship  were  not  calculated  to 
moderate  his  zeal,  or  weaken  his  attachment  to  the  party  he  had 
chosen.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  president,  Calhoun  was  vice- 
president,  Henry  Clay  was  secretary  of  State.  It  was  one  of  the 
best  and  ablest  administrations  that  had  ever  ruled  in  Washington ; 
and  the  most  unpopular  one.  It  is  among  the  inconveniences  of 
universal  suffrage,  that  the  party  which  comes  before  the  country 
with  the  most  taking  popular  CRY  is  the  party  which  is  likeliest  to 
win.  During  the  existence  of  this  administration,  the  Opposition 
had  a  variety  of  popular  Cries  which  were  easy  to  vociferate,  and 
well  adapted  to  impose  on  the  unthinking,  i.  e.  the  majority. 
'  Adams  had  not  been  elected  by  the  people.'  *  Adams  had  gained 
the  presidency  by  a  corrupt  bargain  with  Henry  Clay.'  'Adams 
was  lavish  of  the  public  money.'  But  of  all  the  Cries  of  the  time, 
'  Hurrah  for  Jackson '  was  the  most  effective.  Jackson  was  a  man 


100  APPRENTICESHIP, 

of  the  people.  Jackson  was  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  and  the  con- 
queror of  Florida.  Jackson  was  pledged  to  retrenchment  and 
reform.  Against  vociferation  of  this  kind,  what  availed  the  fact, 
evident,  incontrovertible,  that  the  affairs  of  the  government  were 
conducted  with  dignity,  judgment  and  moderation?— that  the  coun- 
try enjoyed  prosperity  at  home,  and  the  respect  of  the  world? — 
that  the  claims  of  American  citizens  against  foreign  governments 
were  prosecuted  with  diligence  and  success  ? — that  treaties  highly 
advantageous  to  American  interests  were  negotiated  with  leading 
nations  in  Europe  and  South  America? — that  the  public  revenue 
was  greater  than  it  had  ever  been  before  ? — that  the  resources  of 
the  country  were  made  accessible  by  a  liberal  system  of  internal 
improvement  ? — that,  nevertheless,  there  were  surplus  millions  in 
the  treasury  ? — that  the  administration  nobly  disdained  to  employ 
the  executive  patronage  as  a  means  of  securing  its  continuance  in 
power  ? — All  this  availed  nothing.  '  Hurrah  for  Jackson '  carried  the 
day.  The  Last  of  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Revolutionary  school  re- 
tired. The  era  of  wire-pulling  began.  That  deadly  element  was 
introduced  into  our  political  system  which  rendered.it  so  exquisitely 
vicious,  that  thenceforth  it  worked  to  corruption  by  an  irresistible 
necessity !  It  is  called  Rotation  in  Office.  It  is  embodied  in  the 
maxim,  'To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils.'  It  has  made  the  word 
office-holder  synonymous  with  the  word  sneak.  It  has  thronged  the 
capital  with  greedy  sycophants.  It  has  made  politics  a  game  of 
cunning,  with  enough  of  chance  in  it  to  render  it  interesting  to  the 
low  crew  that  play.  It  has  made  the  president  a  pawn  with  which 
to  make  the  first  move — a  puppet  to  keep  the  people  amused  while 
their  pockets  are  picked.  It  has  excluded  from  the  service  of  the 
State  nearly  every  man  of  ability  and  worth,  and  enabled  bloated 
and  beastly  demagogues,  without  a  ray  of  talent,  without  a  senti- 
ment of  magnanimity,  illiterate,  vulgar,  insensible  to  shame,  to  exert 
a  power  in  this  republic,  which  its  greatest  statesmen  in  their 
greatest  days  never  wielded. 

In  the  loud  contentions  of  the  period,  the  reader  can  easily  be- 
lieve that  our  argumentative  apprentice  took  an  intense  interest. 
The  village  of  East  Poultney  cast  little  more — if  any  more — than 
half  a  dozen  votes  for  Jackson,  but  how  much  this  result  was  owing 
to  the  efforts  of  Horace  Greeley  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  All 


THE    ANTI-MASON    EXCITEMENT.  101 

agree  that  he  contributed  his  full  share  to  the  general  babble  which 
the  election  of  a  President  provokes.  During  the  whole  adminis- 
tration of  Adams,  the  revision  of  the  tariff  with  a  view  to  the  bet- 
ter protection  of  American  manufactures  was  among  the  most 
prominent  topics  of  public  and  private  discussion. 

It  was  about  the  year  1827  that  the  Masonic  excitement  arose. 
Military  men  tell  us  that  the  bravest  regiments  are  subject  to  panic. 
Regiments  that  bear  upon  their  banners  the  most  honorable  distinc- 
tions, whose  colors  are  tattered  with  the  bullets  of  a  hundred 
fights,  will  on  a  sudden  falter  in  the  charge,  and  fly,  like  a  pack  of 
cowards,  from  a  danger  which  a  pack  of  cowards  might  face  with- 
out ceasing  to  be  thought  cowards.  Similar  to  these  causeless  and 
irresistible  panics  of  war  are  those  frenzies  of  fear  and  fury  mingled 
which  sometimes  come  over  the  mind  of  a  nation,  and  make  it  for 
a  time  incapable  of  reason  and  regardless  of  justice.  Such  seems 
to  have  been  the  nature  of  the  anti-Masonic  mania  which  raged  in 
the  Northern  States  from  the  year  1827. 

A  man  named  Morgan,  a  printer,  had  published,  for  gain,  a  book 
in  which  the  harmless  secrets  of  the  Order  of  Free  Masons,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  were  divulged.  Public  curiosity  caused  the  book 
to  have  an  immense  sale.  Soon  after  its  publication,  Morgan  an- 
nounced another  volume  which  was  to  reveal  unimagined  horrors  ; 
but,  before  the  book  appeared,  Morgan  disappeared,  and  neither 
ever  came  to  light.  Now  arose  the  question,  What  became  of  Mor- 
gan ?  and  it  rent  the  nation,  for  a  time,  into  two  imbittered  and 
angry  factions.  "  Morgan !"  said  the  Free  Masons,  "  that  perjured 
traitor,  died  and  was  buried  in  the  natural  and  ordinary  fashion." 
"  Morgan  1"  said  the  anti-Masons,  "  that  martyred  patriot,  was  drag- 
ged from  his  home  by  Masonic  ruffians,  taken  in  the  dead  of  night 
to  the  shores  of  the  Niagara  river,  murdered,  and  thrown  into  the 
rapids."  It  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  conceive  the  utter  delirium 
into  which  the  people  in  some  parts  of  the  country  were  thrown  by 
the  agitation  of  this  subject.  Books  were  written.  Papers  were 
established.  Exhibitions  were  got  up,  in  which  the  Masonic  cere- 
monies were  caricatured  or  imitated.  Families  were  divided.  Fa- 
thers disinherited  their  sons,  and  sons  forsook  their  fathers.  Elec- 
tions were  influenced,  not  town  and  county  elections  merely,  but 
State  and  national  elections.  There  were  Masonic  candidates  and 


102  APPRENTICESHIP. 

anti-Masonic  candidates  in  every  election  in  the  Northern  States 
for  at  least  two  years  after  Morgan  vanished.  Hundreds  of  Lodges 
bowed  to  the  storm,  sent  in  their  charters  to  the  central  authority, 
and  voluntarily  ceased  to  exist.  There  are  families  now,  about  the 
country,  in  which  Masonry  is  a  forbidden  topic,  because  its  intro- 
duction would  revive  the  old  quarrel,  and  turn  the  peaceful  tea-table 
into  a  scene  of  hot  and  interminable  contention.  There  are  still  old 
ladies,  male  and  female,  about  the  country,  who  will  tell  you  with 
grim  gravity  that,  if  you  trace  up  Masonry,  through  all  its  Orders, 
till  you  come  to  the  grand,  tip-top,  Head  Mason  of  the  world,  you 
will  discover  that  that  dread  individual  and  the  Chief  of  the  Society 
of  Jesuits  are  one  and  the  same  Person !  . 

I  have  been  tempted  to  use  the  word  ridiculous  in  connection 
with  this  affair;  and  looking  back  upon  it,  at  the  distance  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  ridiculous  seems  a  proper  word  to  apply  to  it. 
But  it  did  not  seem  ridiculous  then.  It  had,  at  least,  a  serious  side. 
It  was  believed  among  the  anti-Masons  that  the  Masons  were  bound 
to  protect  one  another  in  doing  injustice  ;  even  the  commission  of 
treason  and  murder  did  not,  it  was  said,  exclude  a  man  from  the 
shelter  of  his  Lodge.  It  was  alleged  that  a  Masonic  jury  dared  not, 
or  would  not,  condemn  a  prisoner  who,  after  the  fullest  proof  of  his 
guilt  had  been  obtained,  made  the  Masonic  sign  of  distress.  It  was 
asserted  that  a  judge  regarded  the  oath  which  made  him  a  Free 
Mason  as  more  sacred  and  more  binding  than  that  which  admitted 
him  to  the  bench.  It  is  in  vain,  said  the  anti-Masons,  for  one  of  us 
to  seek  justice  against  a  Mason,  for  a  jury  cannot  be  obtained  with- 
out its  share  of  Masonic  members,  and  a  court  cannot  be  found 
without  its  Masonic  judge. 

Our  apprentice  embraced  the  anti-Masonic  side  of  this  contro- 
versy, and  embraced  it  warmly.  It  was  natural  that  he  should. 
It  was  inevitable  that  he  should.  And  for  the  next  two  or  three 
years  he  expended  more  breath  in  denouncing  the  Order  of  the 
Free-Masons,  than  upon  any  other  subject — perhaps  than  all  other 
subjects  put  together.  To  this  day  secret  societies  are  his  special 
aversion. 

But  we  must  hasten  on.  Horace  had  soon  learned  his  trade.  He 
became  the  best  hand  in  the  office,  and  rendered  important  assist- 
ance in  editing  the  paper.  Some  numbers  were  almost  entirely  his 


INVENTORY    OF    HIS    POSSESSIONS.  103 

work.  But  there  was  ill-luck  about  the  little  establishment.  Several 
times,  as  we  have  seen,  it  changed  proprietors,  but  none  of  them 
could  make  it  prosper  ;  and,  at  length,  in  the  month  of  June,  1830, 
the  second  month  of  the  apprentice's  fifth  year,  the  Northern 
Spectator  was  discontinued ;  the  printing-office  was  broken  up,  and 
the  apprentice,  released  from  his  engagement,  became  his  own  mas- 
ter, free  to  wander  whithersoever  he  could  pay  his  passage,  and  to 
work  for  whomsoever  would  employ  him. 

His  possessions  at  this  crisis  were— a  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
printing,  an  extensive  and  very  miscellaneous  library  in  his  mem- 
ory, a  wardrobe  that  could  be  stuffed  into  a  pocket,  twenty  dollars 
in  cash,  and — a  sore  leg.  The  article  last  named  played  too  serious 
a  part  in  the  history  of  its"  proprietor,  not  to  be  mentioned  in  the 
inventory  of  his  property.  He  had  injured  his  leg  a  year  before  in 
stepping  from  a  box,  and  it  troubled  him,  more  or  less,  for  three 
years,  swelling  occasionally  to  four  times  its  natural  size,  and  oblig- 
ing him  to  stand  at  his  work,  with  the  leg  propped  up  in  a  most 
horizontal  and  uncomfortable  position.  It  was  a  tantalizing  feature 
of  the  case  that  he  could  walk  without  much  difficulty,  but  stand- 
ing was  torture.  As  a  printer,  he  had  no  particular  occasion  to 
walk ;  and  by  standing  he  was  to  gain  his  subsistence. 

Horace  Greeley  was  no  longer  a  Boy.  His  figure  and  the  ex- 
pression of  his  countenance  were  still  singularly  youthful ;  but  he 
was  at  the  beginning  of  his  twentieth  year,  and  he  was  henceforth 
to  confront  the  world  as  a  man.  So  far,  his  life  had  been,  upon  the 
whole,  peaceful,  happy  and  fortunate,  and  he  had  advanced  towards 
his  object  without  interruption,  and  with  sufficient  rapidity.  H: 
constitution,  originally  weak,  Labor  and  Temperance  had  rendered 
capable  of  great  endurance.  His  mind,  originally  apt  and  active, 
incessant  reading  had  stored  with  much  that  is  most  valuable 
among  the  discoveries,  the  thoughts,  and  the  fancies  of  past  genera- 
tions. In  the  conflicts  of  the  Debating  Society,  the  printing-office, 
and  the  tavern,  he  had  exercised  his  powers,  and  tried  the  correct- 
ness of  his  opinions.  If  his  knowledge  was  incomplete,  if  there 
were  wide  domains  of  knowledge,  of  which  he  had  little  more  than 
heard,  yet  what  he  did  know  he  knew  well ;  he  had  learned  it,  not 
as  a  task,  but  because  he  wanted  to  Icnow  it ;  it  partook  of  the 
vitality  of  his  own  mind  ;  it  was  his  own,  and  he  could  use  it. 


104  APPRENTICESHIP. 

If  there  had  been  a  PEOPLE'S  COLLEGE,  to 'which  the  new  eman- 
cipated apprentice  could  have  gone,  and  where,  earning  his  subsist- 
ence by  the  exercise  of  his  trade,  he  could  have  spent  half  of  each 
day  for  the  next  two  years  of  his  life  in  the  systematic  study  of 
Language,  History  and  Science,  under  the  guidance  of  men  able  to 
guide  him  aright,  under  the  influence  of  women  capable  of  attracting 
his  regard,  and  worthy  of  it — it  had  been  well.  But  there  was  not 
then,  and  there  is  not  now,  an  institution  that  meets  the  want  and 
the  need  of  such  as  he. 

At  any  moment  there  are  ten  thousand  young  men  and  women 
in  this  country,  strong,  intelligent,  and  poor,  who  are  about  to  go 
forth  into  the  world  ignorant,  who  would  gladly  go  forth  instruct- 
ed, if  they  could  get  knowledge,  and  earn  it  as  they  get  it,  by  the 
labor  of  their  hands.  They  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  our  farm- 
ers and  mechanics.  They  are  the  very  elite  among  the  young 
people  of  the  nation.  There  is  talent,  of  all  kinds  and  all  degrees, 
among  them — talent,  that  is  the  nation's  richest  possession — talent, 
that  could  bless  and  glorify  the  nation.  Should  there  not  be — can 
there  not  be,  somewhere  in  this  broad  land,  a  UNIVERSITY-TOWN — 
where  all  trades  could  be  carried  on,  all  arts  practiced,  all  knowl- 
edge accessible,  to  which  those  who  have  a  desire  to  become  ex- 
cellent in  their  calling,  and  those  who  have  an  aptitude  for  art,  and 
those  who  have  fallen  in  love  with  knowledge,  could  accomplish 
the  wish  of  their  hearts  without  losing  their  independence,  without 
becoming  paupers,  or  prisoners,  or  debtors  ?  Surely  such  a  University 
for  the  People  is  not  an  impossibility.  To  found  such  an  institu- 
tion, or  assemblage  of  institutions — to  find  out  the  conditions  upon 
which  it  could  exist  and  prosper — were  not  an  easy  task.  A  Com- 
mittee could  not  do  it,  nor  a  'Board,'  nor  a  Legislature.  It  is 
an  enterprise  for  ONE  MAN — a  man  of  boundless  disinterestedness, 
of  immense  administrative  and  constructive  talent,  fertile  in  ex- 
pedients, courageous,  persevering,  physically  strong,  and  morally 
great — a  man  born  for  his  work,  and  devoted  to  it  '  with  a  quiet, 
deep  enthusiasm'.  Give  such  a  man  the  indispensable  land,  and 
twenty -five  years,  and  the  People's  College  would  be  a  dream  no 
more,  but  a  triumphant  and  imitable  reality;  and  the  founder 
thereof  would  have  done  a  deed  compared  with  which,  either 


105 

for  its  difficulty  or  for  its  results,  such  triumphs  as  those  of  Traf- 
algar and  Waterloo  would  not  be  worthy  of  mention. 

There  have  been  self-sustaining  monasteries !  Will  there  never 
be  self-sustaining  colleges?  Is  there  anything  like  an  inherent 
impossibility  in  a  thousand  men  and  women,  in  the  fresh  strength 
of  youth,  capable  of  a  just  subordination,  working  together,  each 
for  all  and  all  for  each,  with  the  assistance  of  steam,  machinery, 
and  a  thousand  fertile  acres — earning  a  subsistence  by  a  few  hours' 
labor  per  day,  and  securing,  at  least,  half  their  time  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  art,  or  the  language,  or  the  science  which  they  prefer  ? 
I  think  not.  We  are  at  present  a  nation  of  ignoramuses,  our  ig- 
norance rendered  only  the  more  conspicuous  and  misleading,  by  the 
faint  intimations  of  knowledge  which  we  acquire  at  our  schools. 
Are  we  to  remain  such  for  ever  I 

But  if  Horace  Greeley  derived  no  help  from  schools  and  teachers, 
he  received  no  harm  from  them.  He  finished  his  apprenticeship, 
an  uncontaminated  young  man,  with  the  means  of  independence 
at  his  finger-ends,  ashamed  of  no  honest  employment,  of  no  decent 
habitation,  of  no  cleanly  garb.  "  There  are  unhappy  times,"  says 
Mr.  Carlyle,  "  in  the  world's  history,  when  he  that  is  least  educated 
will  chiefly  have  to  say  that  he  is  least  perverted;  and,  with  the 
multitude  of  false  eye-glasses,  convex,  concave,  green,  or  even 
yellow,  has  not  lost  the  natural  use  of  his  eyes."  "  How  were  it," 
he  asks,  "  if  we  surmised,  that  for  a  man  gifted  with  natural  vigor, 
with  a  man's  character  to  be  developed  in  him,  more  especially  if 
in  the  way  of  literature,  as  thinker  and  writer,  it  is  actually,  in 
these  strange  days,  no  special  misfortune  to  be  trained  up  among 
the%  uneducated  classes,  and  not  among  the  educated;  but  rather, 
of  the  two  misfortunes,  the  smaller?"  And  again,  he  observes, 
"  The  grand  result  of  schooling  is  a  mind  with  just  vision  to  discern, 
with  free  force  to  do ;  the  grand  schoolmaster  is  PBAOTIOE." 

5* 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HE   WANDERS. 

Horace  leaves  Poultney— His  first  Overcoat— Home  to  his  Father's  Log  House— Ranges 
the  country  for  work— The  Sore  Leg  Cured— Gets  Employment,  but  little  Money- 
Astonishes  the  DraughtrPlayers— Goes  to  Erie,  Pa.— Interview  with  an  Editor- 
Becomes  a  Journeyman  in  the  Office— Description  of  Erie— The  Lake— His  Generos- 
ity to  his  Father— His  New  Clothes— No  more  work  at  Erie— Starts  for  New 
York. 

"WELL,  Horace,  and  where  are  you  going  nowT'  asked  the  kind 
landlady  of  the  tavern,  as  Horace,  a  few  days  after  the  closing  of 
the  printing-office,  appeared  on  the  piazza,  equipped  for  the  road — 
i.  e.,  with  his  jacket  on,  and  with  his  bundle  and  his  stick  in  his 
hand. 

"  I  am  going,"  was  the  prompt  and  sprightly  answer,  "  to  Penn- 
sylvania, to  see  iny  father,  and  there  I  shall  stay  till  my  leg  gets 
well." 

With  these  words,  Horace  laid  down  the  bundle  and  the  stick, 
and  took  a  seat  for  the  last  time  on  that  piazza,  the  scene  of  many 
a  peaceful  triumph,  where,  as  Political  Gazetteer,  he  had  often  given 
the  information  that  he  alone,  of  all  the  town,  could  give  ;  where, 
as  political  partisan,  he  had  often  brought  an  antagonist  to  extrem- 
ities ;  where,  as  oddity,  he  had  often  fixed  the  gaze  and  twisted  the 
neck  of  the  passing  pedler. 

And  was  there  no  demonstration  of  feeling  at  the  departure  of 
so  distinguished  a  personage?  .There  was.  But  it  did  not  take 
the  form  of  a  silver  dinner-service,  nor  of  a  gold  tea  ditto,  nor  of  a 
piece  of  plate,  nor  even  of  a  gold  pen,  nor  yet  of  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions. While  Horace  sat  on  the  piazza,  talking  with  his  old 
friends,  who  gathered  around  him,  a  meeting-of  two  individuals 
was  held  in  the  corner  of  the  bar-room.  They  were  the  landlord 
and  one  of  his  boarders ;  and  the  subject  of  their  deliberations 
were,  an  old  brown  overcoat  belonging  to  the  latter.  The  land- 
lord had  the  floor,  and  his  speech  was  to  the  following  purport : — 


HORACE    LEAVES    POULTNEY.  107 

"  He  felt  like  doing  something  for  Horace  before  he  went.  Horace 
was  an  entirely  unspeakable  person.  He  had  lived  a  long  time  in 
the  house ;  he  had  never  given  any  trouble,  and  we  feel  for  him 
as  for  our  own  son.  Now,  there  is  that  brown  over-coat  of  yours. 
It 's  cold  on  the  canal,  all  the  summer,  in  the  mornings  and  even- 
ings. Horace  is  poor  and  his  father  is  poor.  You  are  owing  me 
a  little,  as  much  as  the  old  coat  is  worth,  and  what  I  say  is,  let  us 
give  the  poor  fellow  the  overcoat,  and  call  our  account  squared." 
This  feeling  oration  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  ap- 
proval, and  the  proposition  was  carried  into  effect  forthwith.  The 
landlady  gave  him  a  pocket  Bible.  In  a  few  minutes  more,  Horace 
rose,  put  his  stick  through  his  little  red  bundle,  and  both  over  his 
shoulder,  took  the  overcoat  upon  his  other  arm,  said  '  Good-bye,' 
to  his  friends,  promised  to  write  as  soon  as  he  was  settled  again, 
and  set  off  upon  his  long  journey.  His  good  friends  of  the  tavern 
followed  him  with  their  eyes,  until  a  turn  of  the  road  hid  the  bent 
and  shambling  figure  from  their  sight,  and  then  they  turned  away 
to  praise  him  and  to  wish  him  well.  Twenty-five  years  have 
passed ;  and,  to  this  hour,  they  do  not  tell  the  tale  of  his  departure 
without  a  certain  swelling  of  the  heart,  without  a  certain  glistening 
of  the  softer  pair  of  eyes. 

It  was  a  fine,  cool,  breezy  morning  in  the  month  of  June,  1830. 
Nature  had  assumed  those  robes  of  brilliant  green  which  she  wears 
only  in  June,  and  welcomed  the  wanderer  forth  with  that  heavenly 
smile  which  plays  upon  her  changeful  countenance  only  when  she 
is  attired  in  her  best.  Deceptive  smile !  The  forests  upon  those 
hills  of  hilly  Rutland,  brimming  with  foliage,  concealed  their  granite 
ribs,  their  chasms,  their  steeps,  their  precipices,  their  morasses,  and 
the  reptiles  that  lay  coiled  among  them  ;  but  they  were  there.  So 
did  the  alluring  aspect  of  the  world  hide  from  the  wayfarer  the 
struggle,  the  toil,  the  danger  that  await  the  man  who  goes  out  from 
his  seclusion  to  confront  the  world  ALONE — the  world  of  which  he 
knows  nothing  except  by  hearsay,  that  cares  nothing  for  him,  and 
takes  no  note  of  his  arrival.  The  present  wayfarer  was  destined  to 
be  quite  alone  in  his  conflict  with  the  world,  and  he  was  destined  to 
wrestle  with  it  for  many  years  before  it  yielded  him  anything  more 
than  a  show  of  submission.  How  prodigal  of  help  is  the  Devil  to 
his  scheming  and  guileful  servants !  But  the  Powers  Celestial — 


108  HE   WANDERS. 

they  love  their  chosen  too  wisely  and  too  well  to  diminish  by  one 
care  the  burthen  that  makes  them  strong,  to  lessen  by  one  pang  the 
agony  that  makes  them  good,  to  prevent  one  mistake  of  the  folly 
tbat  makes  them  wise. 

Light  of  heart  and  step,  the  traveler  walked  on.  In  the  after- 
noon he  reached  Ann  Harbor,  fourteen  miles  from  Poultney ;  thence, 
.partly  on  canal-boat  and  partly  on  foot,  he  went  to  Schenectady, 
and  there  took  a  '  line-boat'  in  the  Erie  Canal.  A  week  of  tedium 
in  the  slow  line-boat — a  walk  of  a  hundred  miles  through  the  woods, 
and  he  had  reached  his  father's  log-house.  He  arrived  late  in  the 
evening.  The  last  ten  miles  of  the  journey  he  performed  after 
dark,  guided,  when  he  could  catch  a  glimpse  of  it  through  the 
dense  foliage,  by  a  star.  The  journey  required  at  that  time  about 
twelve  days  :  it  is  now  done  in  eighteen  hours.  It  cost  Horace 
Greeley  about  seven  dollars ;  the  present  cost  by  railroad  is  eleven 
dollars ;  distance,  six  hundred  miles. 

He  found  his  father  and  brother  transformed  into  backwoodsmen. 
Their  little  log-cabin  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  narrow  clearing,  which 
was  covered  with  blackened  stumps,  and  smoked  with  burning  tim- 
ber. Forests,  dense  and  almost  unbroken,  heavily  timbered,  abound- 
ing in  wolves  and  every  other  description  of  '  varmint,'  extended  a 
day's  journey  in  every  direction,  and  in  some  directions  many  days' 
journey.  The  country  was  then  so  wild  and  '  new,'  that  a  hunter  would 
sell  a  man  a  deer  before  it  was  shot ;  and  appointing  the  hour  when, 
and  the  spot  where,  the  buyer  was  to  call  for  his  game,  would  have 
it  ready  for  him  as  punctually  as  though  he  had  ordered  it  at  Fulton 
market.  The  wolves  were  so  bold,  that  their  howlings  could  be 
heard  at  the  house  as  they  roamed  about  in  packs  in  search  of  the 
sheep ;  and  the  solitary  camper-out  could  hear  them  breathe  and  see 
their  eye-balls  glare,  as  they  prowled  about  his  smoldering  fire. 
Mr.  Greeley,  who  had  brought  from  Vermont  a  fondness  for  rearing 
sheep,  tried  to  continue  that  branch  of  rural  occupation  in  the  wil- 
derness ;  but  after  the  wolves,  in  spite  of  his  utmost  care  and  pre- 
caution, had  killed  a  hundred  sheep  for  him,  he  gave  up  the  at- 
tempt. But  it  was  a  level  and  a  very  fertile  region — '  varmint'  al- 
ways select  a  good  '  location' — and  it  has  since  been  subdued  into  a 
beautiful  land  of  wheat  and  woods. 

Horace  stayed  at  home  for  several  weeks,  assisting  his  father, 


GETS   EMPLOYMENT.  109 

fishing  occasionally,  and  otherwise  amusing  himself;  while  his  good 
mother  assiduously  nursed  the  sore  leg.  It  healed  too  slowly  for  its 
impatient  proprietor,  who  had  learned  'to  labor,'  not  'to  wait;' 
and  so,  one  morning,  he  walked  over  to  Jamestown,  a  town  twenty 
miles  distant,  where  a  newspaper  was  struggling  to  get  published, 
and  applied  for  work.  Work  he  obtained.  It  was  very  freely 
given  ;  but  at  the  end  of  the  week  the  workman  received  a  promise 
to  pay,  but  no  payment.  He  waited  and  worked  four  days  longer, 
and  discovering  by  that  time  that  there  was  really  no  money  to  be 
had  or  hoped  for  in  Jamestown,  he  walked  home  again,  as  poor  as 
before. 

And  now  the  damaged  leg  began  to  swell  again  prodigiously ;  at 
one  time  it  was  as  large  below  the  knee  as  a  demijohn.  Cut  off  from 
other  employment,  Horace  devoted  all  his  attention  to  the  unfortu- 
nate member,  but  without  result.  He  heard  abont  this  time  of  a 
famous  doctor  who  lived  in  that  town  of  Pennsylvania  which 
exults  in  the  singular  name  of  'North-East,'  distant  twenty-five 
miles  from  his  father's  clearing.  To  him,  as  a  last  resort,  though 
the  family  could  ill  afford  the  trifling  expense,  Horace  went,  and 
stayed  with  him  a  month.  "  You  don't  drink  liquor,"  were  the 
doctor's  first  words  as  he  examined  the  sore,  "  if  you  did,  you  'd 
have  a  bad  leg  of  it."  The  patient  thought  he  had  a  bad  leg  of  it, 
without  drinking  liquor.  The  doctor's  treatment  was  skillful,  and 
finally  successful.  Among  other  remedies,  he  subjected  the  limb  to 
the  action  of  electricity,  and  from  that  day  the  cure  began.  The 
patient  left  North-East  greatly  relieved,  and  though  the  leg  was 
weak  and  troublesome  for  many  more  months,  yet  it  gradually  re- 
covered, the  wound  subsiding  at  length  into  a  long  red  scar. 

He  wandered,  next,  in  an  easterly  direction,  in  search  of  employ- 
ment, and  found  it  in  the  village  of  Lodi,  fifty  miles  off,  in  Cata- 
raugus  county,  New  York.  At  Lodi,  he  seems  to  have  cherished 
a  hope  of  being  able  to  remain  awhile  and  earn  a  little  money. 
He  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Poultney  describing  the  paper  on  which 
he  worked,  "  as  a  Jackson  paper,  a  forlorn  affair,  else  I  would  have 
sent  you  a  few  numbers."  One  of  his  letters  written  from  Lodi  to 
a  friend  in  Vermont,  contains  a  passage  which  may  serve  to  show 
what  was  going  on  in  the  mind  of  the  printer  as  he  stood  at  the 
case  setting  up  Jacksonian  paragraphs.  "  You  are  aware  that  an 


110  HE   WANDERS. 

important  election  is  close  at  hand  in  this  State,  and  of  course,  a 
great  deal  of  interest  is  felt  in  the  result.  The  regular  Jacksonians 
imagine  that  they  will  be  able  to  elect  Throop  by  20,000  majority  ; 
but  after  having  obtained  all  the  information  I  can,  I  give  it  as  my 
decided  opinion,  that  if  none  of  the  candidates  decline,  we  shall 
elect  Francis  Granger,  governor.  This  county  will  give  him  1000 
majority,  and  I  estimate  the  vote  in  the  State  at  125,000.  I  need 
not  inform  you  that  such  a  result  will  be  highly  satisfactory  to  your 
humble  servant,  H.  Greeley."  It  was  a  result,  however,  which  he 
had  not  the  satisfaction  of  contemplating.  The  confident  and  yet 
cautious  manner  of  the  passage  quoted  is  amusing  in  a  politician 
not  twenty  years  of  age. 

At  Lodi,  as  at  Jamestown,  our  roving  journeyman  found  work 
much  more  abundant  than  money.  Moreover,  he  was  in  the  camp 
of  the  enemy  ;  and  so  at  the  end  of  his  sixth  week,  he  again  took 
bundle  and  stick  and  marched  homeward,  with  very  little  more 
money  in  his  pocket  than  if  he  had  spent  his  time  in  idleness.  On  his 
way  home  he  fell  in  with  an  old  Poultney  friend  who  had  recently 
settled  in  the  wilderness,  and  Horace  arrived  in  time  to  assist  at 
the  '  warming '  of  the  new  cabin,  a  duty  which  he  performed  in  a 
way  that  covered  him  with  glory. 

In  the  course  of  the  evening,  a  draught-board  was  introduced, 
and  the  stranger  beat  in  swift  succession  half  a  dozen  of  the  best 
players  in  the  neighborhood.  It  happened  that  the  place  was  rather 
noted  for  its  skilful  draught-players,  and  the  game  was  played  in- 
cessantly at  private  houses  and  at  public.  To  be  beaten  in  so  scan- 
dalous a  manner  by  a  passing  stranger,  and  he  by  no  means  an 
ornamental  addition  to  an  evening  party,  and  young  enough  to  be 
the  son  of  some  of  the  vanquished,  nettled  them  not  a  little.  They 
challenged  the  victor  to  another  encounter  at  the  tavern  on  the  next 
evening.  The  challenge  was  accepted.  The  evening  arrived,  and 
there  was  a  considerable  gathering  to  witness  and  take  part  in  the 
struggle — among  the  rest,  a  certain  Joe  Wilson  who  had  been  spe- 
cially sent  for,  and  whom  no  one  had  ever  beaten,  since  he  came 
into  the  settlement.  The  great  Joe  was  held  in  reserve.  The  party 
of  the  previous  evening,  Horace  took  in  turn,  and  beat  with  ease. 
Other  players  tried  to  foil  his  '  Yankee  tricks,'  but  were  themselves 
foiled.  The  reserve  was  brought  up.  Joe  Wilson  took  his  seat  at 


GOES   TO   ERIE,  PA.  Ill 

the  table.  He  played  his  deadliest,  pausing  long  before  he  hazarded 
a  move ;  the  company  hanging  over  the  board,  hushed  and  anxious. 
They  were  not  kept  many  minutes  in  suspense ;  Joe  was  overthrown ; 
the  unornamental  stranger  was  the  conqueror.  Another  game — 
the  same  result.  Another  and  another  and  another ;  but  Joe  lost 
every  game.  Joseph,  however,  was  too  good  a  player  not  to  re- 
spect so  potent  an  antagonist,  and  he  and  all  the  party  behaved  well 
under  their  discomfiture.  The  board  was  laid  aside,  and  a  lively 
conversation  ensued,  which  was  continued  c  with  unabated  spirit  to 
a  late  hour.'  The  next  morning,  the  traveler  went  on  his  way,  leav- 
ing behind  him  a  most  distinguished  reputation  as  a  draught-player 
and  a  politician. 

He  remained  at  home  a  few  days,  and  then  set  out  again  on  his 
travels  in  search  of  some  one  who  could  pay  him  wages  for  his 
work.  He  took  a  *  bee  line '  through  the  woods  for  the  town  of 
Erie,  thirty  miles  off,  on  the  shores  of  the  great  lake.  He  had  ex- 
hausted the  smaller  towns ;  Erie  was  the  last  possible  move  in  that 
corner  of  the  board ;  and  upon  Erie  he  fixed  his  hopes.  There  were 
two  printing  offices,  at  that  time,  in  the  place.  It  was  a  town  of 
five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  of  extensive  lake  and  inland  trade. 

The  gentleman  still  lives  who  saw  the  weary  pedestrian  enter 
Erie,  attired  in  the  homespun,  abbreviated  and  stockingless  style 
with  which  the  reader  is  already  acquainted.  His  old  black,  felt  hat 
slouched  down  over  his  shoulders  in  the  old  fashion.  The  red  cot- 
ton handkerchief  still  contained  his  wardrobe,  and  it  was  carried 
on  the  same  old  stick.  The  country  frequenters  of  Erie  were  then, 
and  are  still,  particularly  rustic  in  appearance;  but  our  hero  seemed 
the  very  embodiment  and  incarnation  of  the  rustic  Principle ;  and 
among  the  crowd  of  Pennsylvania  farmers  that  thronged  the  streets, 
he  swung  along,  pre-eminent  and  peculiar,  a  marked  person,  the 
observed  of  all  observers.  He,  as  was  his  wont,  observed  nobody, 
but  went  at  once  to  the  office  of  the  Erie  Gazette,  a  weekly  paper, 
published  then  and  still  by  Joseph  M.  Sterritt. 

UI  was  not,"  Judge  Sterritt  is  accustomed  to  relate,  "I  was  not 
in  the  printing  office  when  he  arrived.  I  came  in,  soon  after,  and 
saw  him  sitting  at  the  table  reading  the  newspapers,  and  so  absorbed 
in  them  that  he  paid  no  attention  to  my  entrance.  My  first  feeling 
was  one  of  astonishment,  that  a  fellow  so  singularly  4  green  'in  his 


112  HE    WANDERS. 

appearance  should  be  reading,  and  above  all,  reading  so  intently. 
I  looked  at  him  for  a  few  moments,  and  then,  finding  that  he  made 
no  movement  towards  acquainting  me  with  his  business,  I  took  up 
my  composing  stick  and  went  to  work.  He  continued  to  read  for 
twenty  minutes,  or  more ;  when  he  got  up,  and  coming  close  to  my 
case,  asked,  in  his  peculiar,  whining  voice, 

"  Do  you  want  any  help  in  the  printing  business  ?" 

"  Why,"  said  I,  running  my  eye  involuntarily  up  and  down  the 
extraordinary  figure,  "  did  you  ever  work  at  the  trade  ?" 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply ;  "  I  worked  some  at  it  in  an  office  in  Ver- 
mont, and  I  should  be  willing  to  work  under  instruction,  if  you 
could  give  me  a  job." 

Now  Mr.  Sterritt  did  want  help  in  the  printing  business,  and 
could  have  given  him  a  job ;  but,  unluckily,  he  misinterpreted  this 
modest  reply.  He  at  once  concluded  that  the  timid  applicant  was 
a  runaway  apprentice;  and  runaway  apprentices  are  a  class  of  their 
fellow-creatures  to  whom  employers  cherish  a  common  and  decided 
aversion.  Without  communicating  his  suspicions,  he  merely  said 
that  he  had  no  occasion  for  further  assistance,  and  Horace,  without 
a  word,  left  the  apartment. 

A  similar  reception  and  the  same  result  awaited  him  at  the  other 
office ;  afijd  so  the  poor  wanderer  trudged  home  again,  not  in  the 
best  spirits. 

"Two  or  three  weeks  after  this  interview,"  continues  Judge 
Sterritt — he  is  a  judge,  I  saw  him  on  the  bench — "  an  acquaint- 
ance of  mine,  a  farmer,  called  at  the  office,  and  inquired  if  I  want- 
ed a  journeyman.  I  did.  He  said  a  neighbor  of  his  had  a  son 
who  learned  the  printing  business  somewhere  Down  East,  and 
wanted  a  place.  l  What  sort  of  a  looking  fellow  is  he  ?'  said  I. 
He  described  him,  and  I  knew  at  once  that  he  was  my  supposed 
runaway  apprentice.  My  friend,  the  farmer,  gave  him  a  high  char- 
acter, however ;  so  I  said,  l  Send  him  along,'  and  a  day  or  two 
after  along  he  came." 

The  terms  on  which  Horace  Greeley  entered  the  office  of  the 
Erie  Gazette  were  of  his  own  naming,  and  therefore  peculiar.  He 
would  do  the  best  he  could,  he  said,  and  Mr.  Sterritt  might  pay 
him  what  he  (Mr.  Sterritt)  thought  he  had  earned.  He  had  only 
one  request  to  make,  and  that  was,  that  he  should  not  be  required 


THE    TOWN   OP   ERIE.  118 

to  work  at  the  press,  unless  the  office  was  so  much  hurried  that  his 
services  in  that  department  could  not  be  dispensed  with.  He  had 
had  a  little  difficulty  with  his  leg,  and  press  work  rather  hurt  him 
than  otherwise.  The  bargain  included  the  condition  that  he  was  to 
board  at  Mr.  Sterritt's  house ;  and  when  he  went  to  dinner  on  the 
day  of  his  arrival,  a  lady  of  the  family  expressed  her  opinion  of 
him  in  the  following  terms : — "  So,  Mr.  Sterritt,  you  've  hired  that 
fellow  to  work  for  you,  have  you  ?  Well,  you  won't  keep  him  three 
days."  In  three  days  she  had  changed  her  opinion ;  and  to  this 
hour  the  good  lady  cannot  bring  herself  to  speak  otherwise  than 
kindly  of  him,  though  she  is  a  stanch  daughter  of  turbulent  Erie, 
and  '  must  say,  that  certain  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Tribune 
during  the  WAR  did  really  seem  too  bad  from  one  who  had  been 
himself  an  Eriean.'  But  then,  'he  gave  no  more  trouble  in  the 
house  than  if  he  had  'nt  been  in  it.' 

Erie,  famous  in  the  Last  War  but  one,  as  the  port  whence  Com- 
modore Perry  sailed  out  to  victory — Erie,  famous  in  the  last  war 
of  all,  as  the  place  where  the  men,  except  a  traitorous  thirteen,  and 
the  women,  except  their  faithful  wives,  all  rose  as  ONE  MAN  against 
the  Railway  Trains,  saying,  in  the  tone  which  is  generally  described 
as  '  not  to  be  misunderstood  ' :  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  without 
stopping  for  refreshment,  and  no  farther,"  and  achieved  as  Break 
of  Gauge  men,  the  distinction  accorded  in  another  land  to  the 
Break  o'  Day  boys — Erie,  which  boasts  of  nine  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, and  aspires  to  become  the  Buffalo  of  Pennsylvania — Erie, 
which  already  has  business  enough  to  sustain  many  stores  wherein 
not  every  article  known  to  traffic  is  sold,  and  where  a  man  cannot 
consequently  buy  coat,  hat,  boots,  physic,  plough,  crackers,  grind- 
stone and  penknife,  over  the  same  counter — Erie,  which  has  a 
Mayor  and  Aldermen,  a  dog-law,  and  an  ordinance  against  shooting 
off  guns  in  the  street  under  a  penalty  of  five  dollars  for  each  and 
every  offence — Erie,  for  the  truth  cannot  be  longer  dashed  from 
utterance,  is  the  shabbiest  and  most  broken-down  looking  large 
town,  /,  the  present  writer,  an  individual  not  wholly  untraveled, 
ever  saw,  in  a  free  State  of  this  Confederacy. 

The  shores  of  the  lake  there  are  '  bluffy,'  sixty  feet  or  more  above 
the  water,  and  the  land  for  many  miles  back  is  nearly  a  dead  level, 
exceedingly  fertile,  and  quite  uninteresting.  No,  not  quito.  For 


114  HE   WANDERS. 

much  of  the  primeval  forest  remains,  and  the  gigantic  trees  that 
were  saplings  when  Columbus  played  in  the  streets  of  Genoa, 
tower  aloft,  a  hundred  feet  without  a  branch,  with  that  exquisite 
daintiness  of  taper  of  which  the  eye  never  tires,  which  architecture 
has  never  equalled,  which  only  Grecian  architecture  approached, 
and  was  beautiful  because  it  approached  it.  The  City  of  Erie  is 
merely  a  square  mile  of  this  level  land,  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
bluff,  with  a  thousand  houses  built  upon  it,  which  are  arranged  on 
the  plan  of  a  corn-field — only,  not  more  than  a  third  of  the  houses 
have  '  come  up.'  The  town,  however,  condenses  to  a  focus  around 
a  piece  of  ground  called  *  The  Park,'  four  acres  in  extent,  surrounded 
with  a  low,  broken  board  fence,  that  was  white-washed  a  long 
time  ago,  and  therefore  now  looks  very  forlorn  and  pig-pen-ny. 
The  side- walks  around  '  The  Park '  present  an  animated  scene.  The 
huge  hotel  of  the  place  is  there — a  cross  between  the  Astor  House 
and  a  country  tavern,  having  the  magnitude  of  the  former,  the 
quality  of  the  latter.  There,  too,  is  the  old  Court-House, — its 
uneven  brick  floor  covered  with  the  chips  of  a  mortising  machine, 
— its  galleries  up  near  the  high  ceiling,  kept  there  by  slender 
poles, — its  vast  cracked,  rusty  stove,  sprawling  all  askew,  and 
putting  forth  a  system  of  stovepipes  that  wander  long  through 
space  before  they  find  the  chimney.  Justice  is  administered  in 
that  Court-house  in  a  truly  free  and  easy  style ;  and  to  hear  the 
drowsy  clerk,  with  his  heels  in  the  air,  administer,  'twixt  sleep 
and  awake,  the  tremendous  oath  of  Pennsylvania,  to  a  brown, 
abashed  farmer,  with  his  right  hand  raised  in  a  manner  to  set 
off  his  awkwardness  to  the  best  advantage,  is  worth  a  journey 
to  Erie.  Two  sides  of  '  The  Park '  are  occupied  by  the  principal 
stores,  before  which  the  country  wagons  stand,  presenting  a  con- 
tinuous range  of  muddy  wheels.  The  marble  structure  around 
the  corner  is  not  a  Greek  temple,  though  built  in  the  style  of 
one,  and  quite  deserted  enough  to  be  a  ruin — it  is  the  Erie  Cus- 
tom House,  a  fine  example  of  governmental  management,  as  it 
is  as  much  too  large  for  the  business  done  in  it  as  the  Custom 
House  of  New  York  is  too  small. 

The  Erie  of  the  present  year  is,  of  course,  not  the  Erie  of  1831, 
when  Horace  Greeley  walked  its  streets,  with  his  eyes  on  the  pave- 
ment and  a  bundle  of  exchanges  in  his  pocket,  ruminating  on  the 


THE  LAKE.  115 

prospects  of  the  next  election,  or  thinking  out  a  copy  of  verses  to 
send  to  his  mother.  It  was  a  smaller  place,  then,  with  fewer  brick 
blocks,  more  pigs  in  the  street,  and  no  custom-house  in  the  Greek 
style.  But  it  had  one  feature  which  has  not  changed.  The  LAKE 
was  there ! 

An  island,  seven  miles  long,  but  not  two  miles  wide,  once  a  part 
of  the  main  land,  lies  opposite  the  town,  at  an  apparent  distance  of 
half  a  mile,  though  in  reality  two  miles  and  a  half  from  the  shore. 
This  island,  which  approaches  the  main  land  at  either  extremity, 
forms  the  harbor  of  Erie,  and  gives  to  that  part  of  the  lake  the  ef- 
fect of  a  river.  Beyond,  the  Great  Lake  stretches  away  further 
than  the  eye  can  reach. 

A  great  lake  in  fine  weather  is  like  the  ocean  only  in  one  particu- 
lar— you  cannot  see  across  it.  The  ocean  asserts  itself;  it  is  demon- 
strative. It  heaves,  it  flashes,  it  sparkles,  it  foams,  it  roars.  On  the 
stillest  day,  it  does  not  quite  go  to  sleep ;  the  tide  steals  up  the  white 
beach,  and  glides  back  again  over  the  shells  and  pebbles  musically,  or 
it  murmurs  along  the  sides  of  black  rocks,  with  a  subdued  though  al- 
ways audible  voice.  The  ocean  is  a  living  and  life-giving  thing, '  fair, 
and  fresh,  and  ever  free.'  The  lake,  on  a  fine  day,  lies  dead.  No 
tide  breaks  upon  its  earthy  shore.  It  is  as  blue  as  a  blue  ribbon,  as 
blue  as  the  sky ;  and  vessels  come  sailing  out  of  heaven,  and  go  sail- 
ing into  heaven,  and  no  eye  can  discern  where  the  lake  ends  and 
heaven  begins.  It  is  as  smooth  as  a  mirror's  face,  and  as  dull  as  a 
mirror's  back.  Often  a  light  mist  gathers  over  it,  and  then  the  lake 
is  gone  from  the  prospect ;  but  for  an  occasional  sail  dimly  descried, 
or  a  streak  of  black  smoke  left  by  a  passing  steamer,  it  would  give 
absolutely  no  sign  of  its  presence,  though  the  spectator  is  standing 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  shore.  Oftener  the  mist  gathers  thick- 
ly along  the  horizon,  and  then,  so  perfect  is  the  illusion,  the  stran- 
ger will  swear  he  sees  the  opposite  shore,  not  fifteen  miles  off. 
There  is  no  excitement  in  looking  upon  a  lake,  and  it  has  no  effect 
upon  the  appetite  or  the  complexion.  Yet  there  is  a  quiet,  languid 
beauty  hovering  over  it,  a  beauty  all  its  own,  a  charm  that  grows 
upon  the  mind  the  longer  you  linger  upon  the  shore.  The  Castle 
of  Indolence  should  have  been  placed  upon  the  bank  of  Lake  Erie, 
where  its  inmates  could  have  lain  on  the  grass  and  gazed  down, 


116  HE   WANDERS. 

through  all  the  slow  hours  of  the  long  summer  day,  upon  the  lazy, 
hazy,  blue  expanse. 

"When  the  wind  blows,  the  lake  wakes  up  ;  and  still  it  is  not  the 
ocean.  The  waves  are  discolored  by  the  earthy  bank  upon  which 
they  break  with  un-oceanlike  monotony.  They  neither  advance, 
nor  recede,  nor  roar,  nor  swell.  A  great  lake,  with  all  its  charms, 
and  they  are  many  and  great,  is  only  an  infinite  pond. 

The  people  of  Erie  care  as  much  for  the  lake  as  the  people  of 
Niagara  care  for  the  cataract,  as  much  as  people  generally  care  for 
anything  wonderful  or  anything  beautiful  which  they  can  see  by 
turning  their  heads.  In  other  words,  they  care  for  it  as  the  means 
by  which  lime,  coal,  and  lumber  may  be  transported  to  another  and 
a  better  market.  Not  one  house  is  built  along  the  shore,  though  the 
shore  is  high  and  level.  Not  a  path  has  been  worn  by  human  feet 
above  or  below  the  bluff.  Pigs,  sheep,  cows,  and  sweet-brier  bushes 
occupy  the  unenclosed  ground,  which  seems  so  made  to  be  built 
upon  that  it  is  surprising  the  handsome  houses  of  the  town  should 
have  been  built  anywhere  else.  One  could  almost  say,  in  a  weak 
moment,  Give  me  a  cottage  on  the  bluff,  and  I  will  live  at  Erie  1 

It  was  at  Erie,  probably,  that  Horace  Greeley  first  saw  the  uni- 
form of  the  American  navy.  The  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
are  each  permitted  by  treaty  to  keep  one  vessel  of  war  in  commis- 
sion on  the  Great  Lakes.  The  American  vessel  usually  lies  in  the 
harbor  of  Erie,  and  a  few  officers  may  be  seen  about  the  town. 
What  the  busy  journeyman  printer  thought  of  those  idle  gentlemen, 
apparently  the  only  quite  useless,  and  certainly  the  best  dressed, 
persons  in  the  place,  may  be  guessed.  Perhaps,  however,  he  passed 
them  by,  in  his  absent  way,  and  saw  them  not. 

In  a  few  days,  the  new  comer  was  in  high  favor  at  the  office  of 
the  Erie  Gazette.  He  is  remembered  jjhere  as  a  remarkably  correct 
and  reliable  compositor,  though  not  as  a  rapid  one,  and  his  steady 
devotion  to  his  work  enabled  him  to  accomplish  more  than  faster 
workmen.  He  was  soon  placed  by  his  employer  on  the  footing  of 
a  regular  journeyman,  at  the  usual  wages,  twelve  dollars  a  month 
and  board.  All  the  intervals  of  labor  he  spent  in  reading.  As 
soon  as  the  hour  of  cessation  arrived,  he  would  hurry  off  his  apron, 
wash  his  hands,  and  lose  himself  in  his  book  or  his  newspapers, 
often  forgetting  his  dinner,  and  often  forgetting  whether  he  had 


NO   MORE  WORK  AT   ERIE.  117 

Lis  dinner  or  not.  More  and  more,  he  became  absorbed  in  politics. 
It  is  said,  by  one  who  worked  beside  him  at  Erie,  that  he  could  tell 
the  name,  post-office  address,  and  something  of  the  history  and 
political  leanings,  of  every  member  of  Congress ;  and  that  he  could 
give  the  particulars  of  every  important  election  that  had  occurred 
within  his  recollection,  even,  in  some  instances,  to  the  county 
majorities. 

And  thus,  in  earnest  work  and  earnest  reading,  seven  profitable 
and  not  unhappy  months  passed  swiftly  away.  He  never  lost  one 
day's  work.  On  Sundays,  he  read,  or  walked  along  the  shores  of 
the  lake,  or  sailed  over  to  the  Island.  His  better  fortune  made  no 
change  either  in  his  habits  or  his  appearance ;  and  his  employer 
was  surprised,  that  month  after  month  passed,  and  yet  his  strange 
journeyman  drew  no  money.  Once,  Mr.  Sterritt  ventured  to 
rally  him  a  little  upon  his  persistence  in  wearing  the  hereditary 
homespun,  saying,  "  Now,  Horace,  you  have  a  good  deal  of  money 
coming  to  you ;  don't  go  about  the  town  any  longer  in  that  out- 
landish rig.  Let  me  give  you  an  order  on  the  store.  Dress  up  a 
little,  Horace."  To  which  Horace  replied,  looking  down  at  the  '  out- 
landish rig,'  as  though  he  had  never  seen  it  before,  "  You  see,  Mr. 
Sterritt,  my  father  is  on  a  new  place,  and  I  want  to  help  him  all  I 
can."  However,  a  short  time  after,  Horace  did  make  a  faint  effort 
to  dress  up  a  little ;  but  the  few  articles  which  he  bought  were  so 
extremely  coarse,  and  common,  that  it  was  a  question  in  the  office 
whether  his  appearance  was  improved  by  the  change,  or  the 
contrary. 

At  the  end  of  the  seventh  month,  the  man  whose  sickness  had 
made  a  temporary  vacancy  in  the  office  of  the  Gazette,  returned  to 
his  place,  and  there  was,  in  consequence,  no  more  work  for  Horace 
Greeley.  Upon  the  settlement  of  his  account,  it  appeared  that  he 
had  drawn  for  his  personal  expenses  during  his  residence  at  Erie, 
the  sum  of  six  dollars !  Of  the  remainder  of  his  wages,  he  took 
about  fifteen  dollars  in  money,  and  the  rest  in  the  form  of  a  note ; 
and  with  all  this  wealth  in  his  pocket,  he  walked  once  more  to  his 
father's  house.  This  note  the  generous  fellow  gave  to  his  father, 
reserving  the  money  to  carry  on  his  own  personal  warfare  with  the 
world. 

And  now,  Horace  was  tired  of  dallying  with  fortune  in  ooun- 


118  ARRIVAL   IN   NEW   YORK. 

try  printing  offices.  He  said,  he  thought  it  was  time  to  do  some- 
thing, and  .he  formed  the  bold  resolution  of  going  straight  to  New 
York  and  seeking  his  fortune  in  the  metropolis.  After  a  few  days  of 
recreation  at  home,  he  tied  up  his  bundle  once  more,  put  his  money 
in  his  pocket,  and  plunged  into  the  woods  in  the  direction  of  the 
Erie  Canal. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

ARRIVAL    IN    NEW    YORK. 

The  journey — a  night  on  the  tow-path — He  reaches  the  city — Inventory  of  his  property 
—Looks  for  a  boarding-house— Finds  one— Expends  half  his  capital  upon  clothes 
— Searches  for  employment — Berated  by  David  Hale  as  a  runaway  apprentice — 
Continues  the  search— Goes  to  church— Hears  of  a  vacancy— Obtains  work— The 
boss  takes  him  for  a  '  dam  fool,'  but  changes  his  opinion — Nicknamed  *  the  Ghost  * 
— Practical  jokes — Horace  metamorphosed — Dispute  about  commas — The  shoe- 
maker's boarding-house— Grand  banquet  on  Sundays. 

HE  took  the  canal-boat  at  Buffalo  and  came  as  far  as  Lockport, 
whence  he  walked  a  few  miles  to  Gaines,  and  stayed  a  day  at  the 
house  of  a  friend  whom  he  had  known  in  Vermont.  Next  morn- 
ing he  walked  back  accompanied  by  his  friend  to  the  canal,  and 
both  of  them  waited  many  hours  for  an  eastward-bound  boat  to 
pass.  Night  came,  but  no  boat,  and  the  adventurer  persuaded  his 
friend  to  go  home,  and  set  out  himself  to  walk  on  the  tow-path  to- 
wards Albion.  It  was  a  very  dark  night.  He  walked  slowly  on, 
hour  after  hour,  looking  anxiously  behind  him  for  the  expected 
boat,  looking  more  anxiously  before  him  to  discern  the  two  fiery 
eyes  of  the  boats  bound  to  the  west,  in  time  to  avoid  being  swept 
into  the  canal  by  the  tow-line.  Towards  morning,  a  boat  of  the 
slower  sort,  a  scow  probably,  overtook  him ;  he  went  on  board,  and 
tired  with  his  long  walk,  lay  down  in  the  cabin  to  rest.  Sleep  was 
tardy  in  alighting  upon  his  eye-lids,  and  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
hearing  his  merits  and  his  costume  fully  and  freely  discussed 
by  his  fellow  passengers.  It  was  Monday  morning.  One  passen- 
ger explained  the  coming  on  board  of  the  stranger  at  so  unusual  an 


INVENTORY  OF  HIS  PROPERTY,  119 

hour,  by  suggesting  that  he>  had  been  courting  all  night.  Sunday 
evening  in  country  places  is  sacred  to  love.  His  appearance  was  so 
exceedingly  unlike  that  of  a  lover,  that  this  sally  created  much 
amusement,  in  which  the  wakeful  traveler  shared.  At  Rochester 
he  took  a  faster  boat.  Wednesday  night  he  reached  Schenectady, 
where  he  left  the  canal  and  walked  to  Albany,  as  the  canal  between 
those  two  towns  is  much  obstructed  by  locks.  He  reached  Albany 
on  Thursday  morning,  just  in  time  to  see  the  seven  o'clock  steam- 
boat move  out  into  the  stream.  He,  therefore,  took  passage  in  a 
tow-boat  which  started  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  same  morning.  At 
sunrise  on  Friday,  the  eighteenth  of  August,  1831,  Horace  Greeley 
landed  at  Whitehall,  close  to  the  Battery,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

New  York  was,  and  is,  a  city  of  adventurers.  Few  of  our  emi- 
nent citizens  were  born  here.  It  is  a  common  boast  among  New 
Yorkers,  that  this  great  merchant  and  that  great  millionaire  came 
to  the  city  a  ragged  boy,  with  only  three  and  sixpence  in  his 
pocket ;  and  now  look  at  him  !  In  a  list  of  the  one  hundred  men 
who  are  esteemed  to  be  the  most  4  successful '  among  the  citizens 
of  New  York,  it  is  probable  that  seventy-five  of  the  names  would 
be  those  of  men  who  began  their  career  here  in  circumstances  that 
gave  no  promise  of  future  eminence.  But  among  them  all.  it  is 
questionable  whether  there  was  one  who  on  his  arrival  had  so  lit- 
tle to  help,  so  much  to  hinder  him,  as  Horace  Greeley. 

Of  solid  cash,  his  stock  was  ten  dollars.  His  other  property  con- 
sisted of  the  clothes  he  wore,  the  clothes  he  carried  in  his  small 
bundle,  and  the  stick  with  which  he  carried  it.  The  clothes  he 
wore  need  not  be  described ;  they  were  those  which  had  already 
astonished  the  people  of  Erie.  The  clothes  he  carried  were  very 
few,  and  precisely  similar  in  cut  and  quality  to  the  garments  which 
he  exhibited  to  the  public.  On  the  violent  supposition  that  his 
wardrobe  could  in  any  case  have  become  a  saleable  commodity,  we 
may  compute  that  he  was  worth,  on  this  Friday  morning  at  sun- 
rise, ten  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents.  He  had  no  friend,  no  ac- 
quaintance here.  There  was  not  a  human  being  upon  whom  he 
had  any  claim  for  help  or  advice.  His  appearance  was  all  against 
him.  He  looked  in  his  round  jacket  like  an  overgrown  boy.  No 
one  was  likely  to  observe  the  engaging  beauty  of  hia  face,  or  the 
noble  round  of  his  brow  under  that  overhanging  hat,  over  that 


120  ARRIVAL   IN   NEW   YORK. 

long  and  stooping  body.  He  was  somewhat  timorous  in  his  inter- 
course with  strangers.  He  would  not  intrude  upon  their  attention ; 
he  had  not  the  faculty  of  pushing  his  way,  and  proclaiming  his  mer- 
its and  his  desires.  To  the  arts  by  which  men  are  conciliated,  by 
which  unwilling  ears  are  forced  to  attend  to  an  unwelcome  tale,  he 
was  utterly  a  stranger.  Moreover,  he  had  neglected  to  bring  with 
him  any  tetters  of  recommendation,  or  any  certificate  of  his  skill 
as  a  printer.  It  had  not  occurred  to  him  that  anything  of  the  kind 
was  necessary,  so  unacquainted  was  he  with  the  life  of  cities. 

His  first  employment  was  to  find  a  boarding-house  where  he 
could  live  a  long  time  on  a  small  sum.  Leaving  the  green  Battery 
on  his  left  hand,  he  strolled  off  into  Broad-street,  and  at  the  corner 
of  that  street  and  Wall  discovered  a  house  that  in  his  eyes  had  the 
aspect  of  a  cheap  tavern.  He  entered  the  bar-room,  and  asked  the 
price  of  board. 

"  I  guess  we  're  too  high  for  you,"  said  the  bar-keeper,  after 
bestowing  one  glance  upon  the  inquirer. 

"  Well,  how  much  a  week  do  you  charge  ?" 

"  Six  dollars." 

"  Yes,  that 's  more  than  I  can  afford,"  said  Horace  with  a  laugh 
at  the  enormous  mistake  he  had  made  in  inquiring  at  a  house  of 
such  pretensions. 

He  turned  up  Wall-street,  and  sauntered  into  Broadway.  Seeing 
no  house  of  entertainment  that  seemed  at  all  suited  to  his  circum- 
stances, he  sought  the  water  once  more,  and  wandered  along  the 
wharves  of  the  North  River  as  far  as  Washington-market.  Board- 
ing-houses of  the  cheapest  kind,  and  drmking-houses  of  the  lowest 
grade,  the  former  frequented  chiefly  by  emigrants,  the  latter  by 
sailors,  were  numerous  enough  in  that  neighborhood.  A  house, 
which  combined  the  low  groggery  and  the  cheap  boarding-house 
in  one  small  establishment,  kept  by  an  Irishman  named  M'Gorlick, 
chanced  to  be  the  one  that  first  attracted  the  rover's  attention.  It 
looked  so  mean  and  squalid,  that  he  was  tempted  to  enter,  and 
again  inquire  for  what  sum  a  man  could  buy  a  week's  shelter  and 
sustenance. 

"  Twenty  shilling*;"  was  the  landlord's  reply. 

"  Ah,"  said  Horace,  "that  sounds  more  like  it." 

Ho  engaged  to  board  with  Mr.  M'Gorlick  on  the  instant,  and 


SEARCHES    FOR   EMPLOYMENT.  1 

proceeded  soon  to  test  the  quality  of  his  fare  by  taking  breakfast 
in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  The  cheapness  of  the  entertainment 
was  its  best  recommendation. 

After  breakfast  Horace  performed  an  act  which  I  believe  he  had 
never  spontaneously  performed  before.  He  bought  some  clothes, 
with  a  view  to  render  himself  more  presentable.  They  were  of 
the  commonest  kind,  and  the  garments  were  few,  but  the  purchase 
absorbed  nearly  half  his  capital.  Satisfied  with  his  appearance,  he 
now  began  the  round  of  the  printing-offices,  going  into  every  one 
he  could  find,  and  asking  for  employment — merely  asking,  and 
going  away,  without  a  word,  as  soon  as  he  was  refused.  In  the 
course  of  the  morning,  he  found  himself  in  the  office  of  the  Journal 
of  Commerce,  and  he  chanced  to  direct  his  inquiry,  '  if  they  wanted 
a  hand,'  to  the  late  David  Hale,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  paper. 
Mr.  Hale  took  a  survey  of  the  person  who  had  presumed  to  ad- 
dress him,  and  replied  in  substance  as  follows : — 

"  My  opinion  is,  young  man,  that  you  're  a  runaway  apprentice, 
and  you  'd  better  go  home  to  your  master." 

Horace  endeavored  to  explain  his  position  and  circumstances, 
but  the  impetuous  Hale  could  be  brought  to  no  more  gracious 
response  than,  "  Be  off  about  your  business,  and  don't  bother  us." 

Horace,  more  amused  than  indignant,  retired,  and  pursued  his 
way  to  the  next  office.  All  that  day  he  walked  the  streets,  climb- 
ed into  upper  stories,  came  down  again,  ascended  other  heights, 
descended,  dived  into  basements,  traversed  passages,  groped  through 
labyrinths,  ever  asking  the  same  question,  '  Do  you  want  a  hand  ?' 
and  ever  receiving  the  same  reply,  in  various  degrees  of  civility, 
'No.'  He  walked  ten  times  as  many  miles  as  he  needed,  for  he 
was  not  aware  that  nearly  all  the  printing-offices  in  New  York  are 
in  the  same  square  mile.  He  went  the  entire  length  of  many  streets 
which  any  body  could  have  told  him  did  not  contain  one. 

He  went  home  on  Friday  evening  very  tired  and  a  little  dis- 
couraged. 

Early  on  Saturday  morning  he  resumed  the  search,  and  continued 
it  with  energy  till  the  evening.  But  no  one  wanted  a  hand.  Busi- 
ness seemed  to  be  at  a  stand-still,  or  every  office. had  its  full  comple- 
ment of  men.  On  Saturday  evening  he  was  still  more  fatigued. 
He  resolved  to  remain  in  the  city  a  day  or  two  longer,  and  then,  if 


122  ARRIVAL   IN    NEW   YORK. 

still  unsuccessful,  to  turn  his  face  homeward,  and  inquire  for  work 
at  the  towns  through  which  he  passed.  Though  discouraged,  he 
was  not  disheartened,  and  still  less  alarmed. 

The  youthful  reader  should  observe  here  what  a  sense  of  inde- 
pendence and  what  fearlessness  dwell  in  the  spirit  of  a  man  who  has 
learned  the  art  of  living  on  the  mere  necessaries  of  life.  If  Horace 
Greeley  had,  after  another  day  or  two  of  trial,  chosen  to  leave  the 
city,  he  would  have  carried  with  him  about  four  dollars  ;  and  with 
that  sum  he  could  have  walked  leisurely  and  with  an  unanxious 
heart  all  the  way  back  to  his  father's  house,  six  hundred  miles, 
inquiring  for  work  at  every  town,  and  feeling  himself  to  be  a  free 
and  independent  American  citizen,  travelling  on  his  own  honestly- 
earned  means,  undegraded  by  an  obligation,  the  equal  in  social  rank 
of  the  best  man  in  the  best  house  he  passed.  Blessed  is  the  young 
man  who  can  walk  thirty  miles  a  day,  and  dine  contentedly  on  half 
a  pound  of  crackers !  Give  him  four  dollars  and  summer  weather, 
and  he  can  travel  and  revel  like  a  prince  incog,  for  forty  days. 

On  Sunday  morning,  our  hero  arose,  refreshed  and  cheerful.  He 
went  to  church  twice,  and  spent  a  happy  day.  In  the  morning  he 
induced  a  man  who  lived  in  the  house  to  accompany  him  to  a  small 
Universalist  church  in  Pitt  street,  near  the  Dry  Dock,  not  less  than 
three  miles  distant  from  M'Gorlick's  boarding-house.  In  the  evening 
he  found  his  way  to  a  Unitarian  church.  Except  on  one  occasion, 
he  had  never  before  this  Sunday  heard  a  sermon  which  accorded 
with  his  own  religious  opinions ;  and  the  pleasure  with  which  he 
heard  the  benignity  of  the  Deity  asserted  and  proved  by  able  men, 
was  one  of  the  highest  he  had  enjoyed. 

In  the  afternoon,  as  if  in  reward  of  the  pious  way  in  which  he 
spent  the  Sunday,  he  heard  news  which  gave  him  a  faint  hope  of 
being  able  to  remain  in  the  city.  An  Irishman,  a  friend  of  the 
landlord,  came  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  to  pay  his  usual  Sun- 
day visit,  and  became  acquainted  with  Horace  and  his  fruitless 
search  for  work.  He  was  a  shoemaker,  I  believe,  but  he  lived  in  a 
house  which  was  much  frequented  by  journeymen  printers.  From 
them  he  had  heard  that  hands  were  wanted  at  "West's,  No.  85  Chat- 
ham street,  and  he  recommended  his  new  acquaintance  to  make 
immediate  application  at  that  office. 

Accustomed  to  country  hours,  and  eager  to  seize  the  chance, 


HE   HEARS   OP   A   VACANCY.  123 

Horace  was  in  Chatham  street  and  on  the  steps  of  the  designated 
house  by  half-past  five  on  Monday  morning.  West's  printing  office 
was  in  the  second  story,  the  ground  floor  being  occupied  by  Mc- 
Elrath  and  Bangs  as  a  bookstore.  They  were  publishers,  and  West 
was  their  printer.  Neither  store  nor  office  was  yet  opened,  and 
Horace  sat  down  on  the  steps  to  wait. 

Had  Thomas  McElrath,  Esquire,  happened  to  pass  on  an  early 
walk  to  the  Battery  that  morning,  and  seen  our  hero  sitting  on  those 
steps,  with  his  red  bundle  on  his  knees,  his  pale  face  supported  on 
his  hands,  his  attitude  expressive  of  dejection  and  anxiety,  his  attire 
extremely  unornamental,  it  would  not  have  occurred  to  Thomas  Mc- 
Elrath, Esquire,  as  a  probable  event,  that  one  day  he  would  be  the 
PAETNEE  of  that  sorry  figure,  and  proud  of  the  connection !  Nor  did 
Miss  Reed,  of  Philadelphia,  when  she  saw  Benjamin  Franklin  pass 
her  father's  house,  eating  a  large  roll  and  carrying  two  others  under 
his  arms,  see  in  that  poor  wanderer  any  likeness  of  her  future  hus- 
band, the  husband  that  made  her  a  proud  and  an  immortal  wife. 
The  princes  of  the  mind  always  remain  incog,  till  they  come  to  the 
throne,  and,  doubtless,  the  Coming  Man,  when  he  comes,  will  appear 
in  a  strange  disguise,  and  no  man  will  know  him. 

It  seemed  very  long  before  any  one  came  to  work  that  morning 
at  No.  85.  The  steps  on  which  our  friend  was  seated  were  in  the 
narrow  part  of  Chatham-street,  the  gorge  through  which  at  morn- 
ing and  evening  the  swarthy  tide  of  mechanics  pours.  By  six 
o'clock  the  stream  has  set  strongly  down-town-ward,  and  it  gradu- 
ally swells  to  a  torrent,  bright  with  tin  kettles.  Thousands  passed 
by,  but  no  one  stopped  till  nearly  seven  o'clock,  when  one  of  Mr. 
West's  journeymen  arrived,  and  finding  the  door  still  locked,  he  sat 
down  on  the  steps  by  the  side  of  Horace  Greeley.  They  fell  into 
conversation,  and  Horace  stated  his  circumstances,  something  of  his 
history,  and  his  need  of  employment.  Luckily  this  journeyman  was 
a  Yermonter,  and  a  kind-hearted  intelligent  man.  He  looked  upon 
Horace  as  a  countryman,  and  was  struck  with  the  singular  candor 
and  artlessness  with  which  he  told  his  tale.  "  I  saw,"  says  he,  "  that 
he  was  an  honest,  good  young  man,  and  being  a  Yermonter  myself, 
I  determined  to  help  him  if  I  could." 

He  did  help  him.  The  doors  were  opened,  the  men  began  to 
arrive ;  Horace  and  his  newly-found  friend  ascended  to  the  office, 


124  ARRIVAL   IN   NEW   YORK. 

and  soon  after  seven  the  work  of  the  day  began.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  the  appearance  of  Horace,  as  he  sat  in  the  office 
Availing  for  the  coming  of  the  foreman,  excited  unbounded  astonish- 
ment, and  brought  upon  his  friend  a  variety  of  satirical  observations. 
Nothing  daunted,  however,  on  the  arrival  of  the  foreman  he  stated 
the  case,  and  endeavored  to  interest  him  enough  in  Horace  to  give 
him  a  trial.  It  happened  that  the  work  for  which  a  man  was  wanted 
in  the  office  was  the  composition  of  a  Polyglot  Testament ;  a  kind 
of  work  which  is  extremely  difficult  and  tedious.  Several  men  had 
tried  their  hand  at  it,  and,  in  a  few  days  or  a  few  hours,  given  it  up. 
The  foreman  looked  at  Horace,  and  Horace  looked  at  the  foreman. 
Horace  saw  a  handsome  man  (now  known  to  the  sporting  public  as 
Colonel  Porter,  editor  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Times.)  The  foreman 
beheld  a  youth  who  could  have  gone  on  the  stage,  that  minute,  as 
Ezekiel  Homespun  without  the  alteration  of  a  thread  or  a  hair,  and 
brought  down  the  house  by  his  '  getting  up'  alone.  He  no  more 
believed  that  Ezekiel  could  set  up  a  page  of  a  Polyglot  Testament 
than  that  he  could  construct  a  chronometer.  However,  partly  to 
oblige  Horace's  friend,  partly  because  he  was  unwilling  to  wound 
the  feelings  of  the  applicant  by  sending  him  abruptly  away,  he  con- 
sented to  let  him  try.  "  Fix  up  a  case  for  him,"  said  he,  "  and  we  '11 
see  if  he  can  do  anything."  In  a  few  minutes  Horace  was  at 
work. 

The  gentleman  to  whose  intercession  Horace  Greeley  owed  his 
first  employment  in  New-York  is  now  known  to  all  the  dentists  in 
the  Union  as  the  leading  member  of  a  firm  which  manufactures 
annually  twelve  hundred  thousand  artificial  teeth.  He  has  made 
a  fortune,  the  reader  will  be  glad  to  learn,  and  lives  in  a  mansion  up 
town. 

After  Horace  had  been  at  work  an  hour  or  two,  Mr.  West,  the 
'  boss,'  came  into  the  office.  What  his  feelings  were  when  he  saw 
his  new  man,  may  be  inferred  from  a  little  conversation  upon  the 
subject  which  took  place  between  him  and  the  foreman. 

"  Did  you  hire  that  dam  fool  ?"  asked  West  with  no  small  irri- 
tation. 

"  Yes ;  we  must  have  hands,  and  he  's  the  best  I  could  get,"  said 
the  foreman,  justifying  his  conduct,  though  he  was  really  ashamed 
of  it. 


NICKNAMED    "THE    GHOST."  125 

"Well,"  said  the  master,  "for  God's  sake  pay  him  off  to-night, 
and  let  him  go  about  his  business." 

Horace  worked  through  the  day  with  his  usual  intensity,  and  in 
perfect  silence.  At  night  he  presented  to  the  foreman,  as  the  cus- 
tom then  was,  the  'proof  of  his  day's  work  What  astonishment 
was  depicted  in  the  good-looking  countenance  of  that  gentleman 
when  he  discovered  that  the  proof  before  him  was  greater  in  quan- 
tity, and  more  correct  than  that  of  any  other  day's  work  which 
had  yet  been  done  on  the  Polyglot !  There  was  no  thought  of  send- 
ing the  new  journeyman  about  his  business  now.  He  was  an  es- 
tablished man  at  once.  Thenceforward,  for  several  months,  Horace 
worked  regularly  and  hard  on  the  Testament,  earning  about  six  dol- 
lars a  week. 

He  had  got  into  good  company.  There  were  about  twenty  men 
and  boys  in  the  office,  altogether,  of  whom  two  have  since  been 
members  of  Congress,  three  influential  editors,  and  several  others 
have  attained  distinguished  success  in  more  private  vocations.  Most 
of  them  are  still  alive ;  they  remember  vividly  the  coming  among 
them  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  are  fond  of  describing  his  ways  and 
works.  The  following  paragraph  the  reader  is  requested  to  regard 
as  the  condensed  statement  of  their  several  recollections. 

Horace  worked  with  most  remarkable  devotion  and  intensity. 
His  task  was  difficult,  and  he  was  paid  by  the  *  piece.'  In  order, 
therefore,  to  earn  tolerable  wages,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  work 
harder  and  longer  than  any  of  his  companions,  and  he  did  so. 
Often  he  was  at  his  case  before  six  in  the  morning;  often  he 
had  not  left  it  at  nine  in  the  evening ;  always,  he  was  the  first  to 
begin  and  the  last  to  leave.  In  the  summer,  no  man  beside  him- 
self worked  before  breakfast,  or  after  tea.  While  the  young  men 
and  older  apprentices  were  roaming  the  streets,  seeking  their 
pleasure,  he,  by  the  light  of  a  candle  stuck  in  a  bottle,  was  eking 
out  a  slender  day's  wages  by  setting  up  an  extra  column  of  the 
Polyglot  Testament. 

For  a  day  or  two,  the  men  of  the  office  eyed  him  askance,  and 
winked  at  one  another  severely.  The  boys  were  more  demonstra- 
tive, and  one  of  the  most  mischievous  among  them  named  him 
THE  GHOST,  in  allusion  to  his  long  white  hair,  and  the  singular  fair- 
ness of  his  complexion.  Soon,  however,  the  men  who  worked  near 


126  ARRIVAL   IN    NEW    YORK. 

him  began  to  suspect  that  his  mind  was  better,  furnished  than  his 
person.  Horace  always  had  a  way  of  talking  profusely  while  at 
work,  and  that,  too,  without  working  with  less  assiduity.  Conver- 
sations soon  arose  about  masonry,  temperance,  politics,  religion ; 
and  the  new  journeyman  rapidly  argued  his  way  to  respectful  con- 
sideration. His  talk  was  ardent,  animated,  and  positive.  He  was 
perfectly  confident  of  his  opinions,  and  maintained  them  with  an 
assurance  that  in  a  youth  of  less  understanding  and  less  geniality 
would  have  been  thought  arrogance.  His  enthusiasm  at  this  time, 
was  Henry  Clay  ;  his  great  subject,  masonry.  In  a  short  time,  to 
quote  the  language  of  one  his  fellow-workmen,  '  he  was  the  lion  of 
the  shop.'  Yet  for  all  that,  the  men  who  admired  him  most  would 
have  their  joke,  and  during  all  the  time  that  Horace  remained  in 
the  office,  it  was  the  standing  amusement  to  make  nonsensical  re- 
marks in  order  to  draw  from  him  one  of  his  shrewd  half-comic, 
Scotch-Irish  retorts.  "  And  we  always  got  it,"  says  one. 

The  boys  of  the  office  were  overcome  by  a  process  similar  to  that 
which  frustrated  the  youth  of  Poultney.  Four  or  five  of  them, 
who  knew  Horace's  practice  of  returning  to  the  office  in  the  even- 
ing and  working  alone  by  candle-light,  concluded  that  that  would 
be  an  excellent  time  to  play  a  few  printing-office  tricks  upon  him. 
They,  accordingly,  lay  in  ambush  one  evening,  in  the  dark  recesses 
of  the  shop,  and  awaited  the  appearance  of  the  Ghost.  He  had  no 
sooner  lighted  his  candle  and  got  at  work,  than  a  ball,  made  of  '  old 
roller,'  whizzed  past  his  ear  and  knocked  over  his  candle.  He  set 
it  straight  again  and  went  on  with  his  work.  Another  ball,  and 
another,  and  another,  and  finally  a  volley.  One  hit  his  '  stick,'  one 
scattered  his  type,  another  broke  his  bottle,  and  several  struck  his 
head.  He  bore  it  till  the  balls  came  so  fast,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  work,  as  all  his  time  was  wasted  in  repairing  damages. 
At  length,  he  turned  round  and  said,  without  the  slightest  ill-humor, 
and  in  a  supplicating  tone,  "  Now,  boys,  don't.  I  want  to  work. 
Please,  now,  let  me  alone."  The  boys  came  out  of  their  places  of 
concealment  into  the  light  of  the  candle,  and  troubled  him  no 
more. 

Thus,  it  appears,  that  every  man  can  best  defend  himself  with 
the  weapon  that  nature  has  provided  him — whether  it  be  fists  or 
forgiveness.  Little  Jane  Eyre  was  of  opinion,  that  when  anybody 


THE    OBLIGING   MAN    OF    THE    OFFICE.  127 

has  struck  another,  he  should  himself  be  struck;  "  very  hard,"  says 
Jane,  "so  hard,  that  he  will  be  afraid  ever  to  strike  anybody  again." 
On  the  contrary,  thought  Horace  Greeley,  -when  any  one  has  wan- 
tonly or  unjustly  struck  another,  he  should  be  so  severely  forgiven, 
and  made  so  thoroughly  ashamed  of  himself,  that  he  will  ever  after 
shrink  from  striking  a  wanton  or  an  unjust  blow.  Sound  maxims, 
loth;  the  first,  for  Jane,  the  second,  for  Horace. 

His  good  humor  was,  in  truth,  naturally  imperturbable.  He  was 
soon  the  recognized  OBLIGING  MAN  of  the  office ;  the  person  relied 
upon  always  when  help  was  needed — a  most  inconvenient  kind  of 
reputation.  Among  mechanics,  money  is  generally  abundant  enough 
on  Sundays  and  Mondays ;  and  they  spend  it  freely  on  those  days. 
Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  they  are  only  in  moderate  circumstances. 
The  last  days  of  the  week  are  days  of  pressure  and  borrowing, 
when  men  are  in  a  better  condition  to  be  treated  than  to  treat. 
Horace  Greeley  was  the  man  who  had  money  always  ;  he  was  as 
rich  apparently  on  Saturday  afternoon  as  on  Sunday  morning,  and 
as  willing  to  lend.  In  an  old  memorandum-book  belonging  to  one 
of  his  companions  in  those  days,  still  may  be  deciphered  such  en- 
tries as  these:  'Borrowed  of  Horace  Greeley,  2s.'  'Owe  Horace 
Greeley,  9s.  6d.'  '  Owe  Horace  Greeley,  2s.  6d,  for  a  breastpin.' 
He  never  refused  to  lend  his  money.  To  himself,  he  allowed  scarce- 
ly anything  in  the  way  of  luxury  or  amusement ;  unless,  indeed, 
an  occasional  purchase  of  a  small  share  in  a  lottery-ticket  may  be 
styled  a  luxury. 

Lotteries  were  lawful  in  those  days,  and  Chatham-street  was 
where  lottery-offices  most  abounded.  It  was  regarded  as  a  per- 
fectly respectable  and  legitimate  business  to  keep  a  lottery-office, 
and  a  perfectly  proper  and  moral  action  to  buy  a  lottery -ticket. 
The  business  was  conducted  openly  and  fairly,  and  under  official 
supervision ;  not  as  it  now  is,  by  secret  and  irresponsible  agents  in 
all  parts  of  the  city  and  country.  Whether  less  money,  or  more, 
is  lost  by  lotteries  now  than  formerly,  is  a  question  which,  it  is 
surprising,  no  journalist  has  determined.  Whether  they  cause 
less  or  greater  demoralization  is  a  question  which  it  were  well 
for  moralists  to  consider. 

Of  the  few  incidents  which  occurred  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 


128  ARRIVAL    IN    NEW    YORK. 

the  printing-office  in  Chatham- street,  the  one  which  is  most  glee- 
fully remembered  is  the  following : — 

Horace  was,  of  course,  subjected  to  a  constant  fire  of  jocular 
observations  upon  his  dress,  and  frequently  to  practical  jokes  sug- 
gested by  its  deficiencies  and  redundancies.  Men  stared  at  him  in 
the  streets,  and  boys  called  after  him.  Still,  however,  he  clung  to 
his  linen  roundabout,  his  short  trowsers,  his  cotton  shirt,  and  his 
dilapidated  hat.  Still  he  wore  no  stockings,  and  made  his  wrist- 
bands meet  with  twine.  For  all  jokes  upon  the  subject  he  had  deaf 
ears ;  and  if  any  one  seriously  remonstrated,  he  would  not  defend 
himself  by  explaining,  that  all  the  money  he  could  spare  was  need- 
ed in  the  wilderness,  six  hundred  miles  away,  whither  he  punctually 
sent  it.  September  passed  and  October.  It  began  to  be  cold,  but 
our  hero  had  been  toughened  by  the  winters  of  Vermont,  and  still 
he  walked  about  in  linen.  One  evening  in  November,  when  busi- 
ness was  urgent,  and  all  the  men  worked  till  late  in  the  evening, 
Horace,  instead  of  returning  immediately  after  tea,  as  his  custom 
was,  was  absent  from  the  office  for  two  hours.  Between  eight  and 
nine,  when  by  chance  all  the  men  were  gathered  about  the  '  com- 
posing stone,'  upon  which  a  strong  light  was  thrown,  a  strange 
figure  entered  the  office,  a  tall  gentleman,  dressed  in  a  complete  suit 
of  faded  broadcloth,  and  a  shabby,  over-brushed  beaver  hat,  from 
beneath  which  depended  long  and  snowy  locks.  The  garments 
were  fashionably  cut ;  the  coat  was  in  the  style  of  a  swallow's 
tail ;  the  figure  was  precisely  that  of  an  old  gentleman  who  had 
seen  better  days.  It  advanced  from  the  darker  parts  of  the  office, 
and  emerged  slowly  into  the  glare  around  the  composing  stone. 
The  men  looked  inquiringly.  The  figure  spread  out  its  hands, 
looked  down  at  its  habiliments  with  an  air  of  infinite  complacency, 
and  said, — 

"  Well,  boys,  and  how  do  you  like  me  now  ?" 

"  Why,  it 's  Greeley,"  screamed  one  of  the  men. 

It  was  Greeley,  metamorphosed  into  a  decayed  gentleman  by  a 
second-hand  suit  of  black,  bought  of  a  Chatham-street  Jew  for  five 
dollars. 

A  shout  arose,  such  as  had  never  before  been  heard  at  staid  and 
regular  85  Chatham-street.  Cheer  upon  cheer  was  given,  and  men 


PRACTICAL  JOKES.  129 

laughed  till  the  tears  came,  the  venerable  gentleman  being  as  happy 
as  the  happiest. 

"  Greeley,  you  must  treat  upon  that  suit,  and  no  mistake,"  said 
one. 

"  Oh,  of  course,"  said  everybody  else. 

"  Come  along,  boys ;  I  '11  treat,"  was  Horace's  ready  response. 

All  the  company  repaired  to  the  old  grocery  on  the  corner  of 
Duane-street,  and  there  each  individual  partook  of  the  beverage 
that  pleased  him,  the  treater  indulging  in  a  glass  of  spruce  beer. 
Posterity  may  as  well  know,  and  take  warning  from  the  fact,  that 
this  five-dollar  suit  was  a  failure.  It  had  been  worn  thin,  and  had 
been  washed  in  blackened  water  and  ironed  smooth.  A  week's 
wear  brought  out  all  its  pristine  shabbiness,  and  developed  new. 

Our  hero  was  not,  perhaps,  quite  so  indifferent  to  his  personal  ap- 
pearance as  he  seemed.  One  day,  when  Colonel  Porter  happened 
to  remark  that  his  hair  had  once  been  as  white  as  Horace  Greeley's, 
Horace  said  with  great  earnestness,  "  Was  it  ?" — as  though  he  drew 
from  that  fact  a  hope  that  his  own  hair  might  darken  as  lie  grew 
older.  And  on  another  occasion,  when  he  had  just  returned  from  a 
visit  to  New-Hampshire,  he  said,  "Well,  I  have  been  up  in  the 
country  among  my  cousins ;  they  are  all  good-looking  young  men 
enough ;  I  do  n't  see  why  /  should  be  such  a  curious-looking  fel- 
low." 

One  or  two  other  incidents  which  occurred  at  West's  are  perhaps 
worth  telling;  for  one  well-authenticated  fact,  though  apparently 
of  trifling  importance,  throws  more  light  upon  character  than  pages 
of  general  reminiscence. 

It  was  against  the  rules  of  the  office  for  a  compositor  to  enter  the 
press-room,  which  adjoined  the  composing-room.  Our  hero,  how- 
ever, went  on  one  occasion  to  the  forbidden  apartment  to  speak  to 
a  friend  who  worked  there  upon  a  hand-press  that  was  exceedingly 
hard  to  pull. 

"Greeley,"  said  one  of  the  men,  "you're  a  pretty  stout  fellow, 
but  you  can 't  pull  back  that  lever." 

"  Can 't  I  ?"  said  Horace ;  "  I  can." 

"  Try  it,  then,"  said  the  mischief-maker. 

The  press  was  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  the  lever  offered 
no  resistance  whatever,  and,  consequently,  when  Horace  seized  it, 

6* 


130  ARRIVAL    IN    NEW   YORE. 

and  collected  all  his  strength  for  a  tremendous  effort,  he  fell  back- 
wards on  the  floor  with  great  violence,  and  brought  away  a  large 
part  of  the  press  with  him.  There  was  a  thundering  noise,  and  all 
the  house  came  running  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  Horace  got 
up,  pale  and  trembling  from  the  concussion. 

"  Now,  that  was  too  bad,"  said  he. 

He  stood  his  ground,  however,  while  the  man  who  had  played 
the  trick  gave  the  'boss'  a  fictitious  explanation  of  the  mishap,  with- 
out mentioning  the  name  of  the  apparent  offender.  When  all  was 
quiet  again,  Horace  went  privately  to  the  pressman  and  offered  to 
pay  his  share  of  the  damage  done  to  the  press ! 

With  Mr.  West,  Horace  had  little  intercourse,  and  yet  they  did 
on  several  occasions  come  into  collision.  Mr.  West,  like  all  other 
bosses  and  men,  had  a  weakness ;  it  was  commas.  He  loved  com- 
mas, he  was  a  stickler  for  commas,  he  was  irritable  on  the  subject 
of  commas,  he  thought  more  of  commas  than  any  other  point  of 
prosody,  and  above  all,  he  was  of  opinion  that  he  knew  more  about 
commas  than  Horace  Greeley.  Horace  had,  on  his  part,  no  objec- 
tion to  commas,  but  he  loved  them  in  moderation,  and  was  deter- 
mined to  keep  them  in  their  place.  Debates  ensued.  The  journey- 
man expounded  the  subject,  and  at  length,  after  much  argument, 
convinced  his  employer  that  a  redundancy  of  commas  was  possible, 
and,  in  short,  that  he,  the  journeyman,  knew  how  to  preserve  the 
balance  of  power  between  the  various  points,  without  the  assist- 
ance or  advice  of  any  boss  or  man  in  Chatham,  or  any  other  street. 
There  was,  likewise,  a  certain  professor  whose  book  was  printed  in 
the  office,  and  who  often  came  to  read  the  proofs.  It  chanced  that 
Horace  set  up  a  few  pages  of  this  book,  and  took  the  liberty  of  al- 
tering a  few  phrases  that  seemed  to  him  inelegant  or  incorrect.  The 
professor  was  indignant,  and  though  he  was  not  so  ignorant  as 
not  to  perceive  that  his  language  had  been  altered  for  the  better,  he 
thought  it  due  to  his  dignity  to  apply  approbrious  epithets  to  the 
impertinent  compositor.  The  compositor  argued  the  matter,  but 
did  not  appease  the  great  man. 

Soon  after  obtaining  work,  our  friend  found  a  better  boarding- 
house,  at  least  a  more  convenient  one.  On  the  corner  of  Duane- 
street  and  Chatham  there  was,  at  that  time,  a  large  building,  oc- 
cupied  below  as  a  grocery  and  bar-room,  the  upper  stories  as  a  me- 


131 

chanics'  boarding-house.  It  accommodated  about  fifty  boarders, 
most  of  whom  were  shoe-makers,  who  worked  in  their  own  rooms, 
or  in  shops  at  the  top  of  the  house,  and  paid,  for  room  and  board, 
two  dollars  and  a  half  per  week.  This  was  the  house  to  which 
Horace  Greeley  removed,  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  the  city, 
and  there  he  lived  for  more  than  two  years.  The  reader  of  the 
Tribune  may,  perhaps,  remember,  that  its  editor  has  frequently  dis- 
played a  particular  acquaintance  with  the  business  of  shoe-making, 
and  drawn  many  illustrations  of  the  desirableness  and  feasibility 
of  association  from  the  excessive  labor  and  low  wages  of  shoe- 
makers. It  was  at  this  house  that  he  learned  the  mysteries  of  the 
craft.  He  was  accustomed  to  go  up  into  the  shops,  and  sit  among 
the  men  while  waiting  for  dinner.  It  was  here,  too,  that  he  obtain- 
ed that  general  acquaintance  with  the  life  and  habits  of  city  me- 
chanics, which  has  enabled  him  since  to  address  them  so  wisely 
and  so  convincingly.  He  is  remembered  by  those  who  lived  with 
him  there,  only  as  a  very  quiet,  thoughtful,  studious  young  man, 
one  who  gave  no  trouble,  never  went  out  '  to  spend  the  evening,1 
and  read  nearly  every  minute  when  he  was  not  working  or  eating. 
The  late  Mr.  Wilson,  of  the  Brother  Jonathan,  who  was  his  room- 
mate for  some  months,  used  to  say,  that  often  he  went  to  bed  leav- 
ing his  companion  absorbed  in  a  book,  and  when  he  awoke  in  the 
morning,  saw  him  exactly  in  the  same  position  and  attitude,  as 
though  he  had  not  moved  all  night.  He  had  not  read  all  night, 
however,  but  had  risen  to  his  book  with  the  dawn.  Soon  after 
sunrise,  he  went  over  the  way  to  his  work. 

Another  of  Mr.  Wilson's  reminiscences  is  interesting.  The 
reader  is  aware,  perhaps,  from  experience,  that  people  who  pay  only 
two  dollars  and  a  half  per  week  for  board  and  lodging  are  not  pro- 
vided with  all  the  luxuries  of  the  season ;  and  that,  not  unfrequent- 
ly,  a  desire  for  something  delicious  steals  over  the  souls  of  boarders, 
particularly  on  Sundays,  between  12,  M.  and  1.,  P.M.  The  eating- 
house  revolution  had  then  just  begun,  and  the  institution  of  Dining 
Down  Town  was  set  up  ;  in  fact,  a  bold  man  established  a  Sixpenny 
Dining  Saloon  in  Beekman-street,  which  was  the  talk  of  the  shops 
in  the  winter  of  1831.  On  Sundays  Horace  and  his  friends,  after 
their  return  from  Mr.  Sawyer's  (Universalist)  church  in  Orchard- 
street,  were  accustomed  to  repair  to  this  establishment,  and  indulge 


132  ARRIVAL   IN   NEW   YORK. 

in  a  splendid  repast  at  a  cost  of,  at  least,  one  shilling  each,  rising 
on  some  occasions  to  eighteen  pence.  Their  talk  at  dinner  was  of 
the  soul-banquet,  the  sermon,  of  which  they  had  partaken  in  the 
morning,  and  it  was  a  custom  among  them  to  ascertain  who  could 
repeat  the  substance  of  it  most  correctly.  Horace  attended  that 
church  regularly,  in  those  days,  and  listened  to  the  sermon  with 
his  head  bent  forward,  his  eyes  upon  the  floor,  his  arms  folded,  and 
one  leg  swinging,  quite  in  his  old  class  attitude  at  the  Westhaven 
school. 

This,  then,  is  the  substance  of  what  his  companions  remember 
of  Horace  Greeley's  first  few  months  in  the  metropolis.  In  a  way 
so  homely  and  so  humble,  New  York's  most  distinguished  citizen, 
the  Country's  most  influential  man,  began  his  career. 

In  his  subsequent  writings  there  are  not  many  allusions  of  an  au- 
tobiographical nature  to  this  period.  The  following  is,  indeed,  the 
only  paragraph  of  the  kind  that  seems  worth  quoting.  It  is  valu- 
able as  throwing  light  upon  the  habit  of  his  mind  at  this  time : — 

"Fourteen  years  ago,  when  the  editor  of  the  TRIBUNE  came  to  this  city, 
there  was  published  here  a  small  daily  paper  entitled  the  '  Sentinel,'  devoted 
to  the  cause  of  what  was  called  by  its  own  supporters  '  the  Working  Men's 
Party,'  and  by  its  opponents  '  the  Fanny  Wright  Working  Men.'  Of  that 
party  we  have  little  personal  knowledge,  but  at  the  head  of  the  paper,  among 
several  good  and  many  objectionable  avowals  of  principle,  wag  borne  the  fol- 
lowing ; 

"  <  Single  Districts  for  the  choice  of  each  Senator  and  Member  of  Assembly.' 
"  We  gave  this  proposition  some  attention  at  the  time,  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  was  alike  sound  and  important.  It  mattered  little  to  us  that  it 
was  accompanied  and  surrounded  by  others  that  we  could  not  assent  to,  and 
was  propounded  by  a  party  with  which  we  had  no  acquaintance  and  little  sym- 
pathy. We  are  accustomed  to  welcome  truth,  from  whatever  quarter  it  may 
approach  us,  and  on  whatever  flag  it  may  be  inscribed.  Subsequent  experience 
has  fully  confirmed  our  original  impression,  and  now  we  have  little  doubt  that 
this  principle,  which  was  utterly  slighted  when  presented  under  unpopular 
auspices,  will  be  engrafted  on  our  reformed  Constitution  without  serious  oppo- 
sition."— Tribune,  Dec.,  1845. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FEOM  OFFICE  TO  OFFICE. 

Leaves  West's— Works  on  the  '  Evening  Post'— Story  of  Mr.  Leggelt— '  Commercial 
Advertiser'—'  Spirit  of  the  Times'— Specimen  of  his  writing  at  this  period— Natu- 
rally fond  of  the  drama— Timothy  Wiggins— Works  for  Mr.  Redfleld— The  first 
lift. 

HOEACE  GREELET  was  a  journeyman  printer  in  this  city  for  four- 
teen months.  Those  months  need  not  detain  us  long  from  the  more 
eventful  periods  of  his  life.  v 

He  worked  for  Mr.  West  in  Chatham  street  till  about  the  first  of 
November  (1831).  Then  the  business  of  that  office  fell  off,  and  he 
was  again  a  seeker  for  employment.  He  obtained  a  place  in  the 
office  of  the  '  Evening  Post,'  whence,  it  is  said,  he  was  soon  dis- 
missed by  the  late  Mr.  Leggett,  on  the  ground  of  his  sorry  appear- 
ance. The  story  current  among  printers  is  this :  Mr.  Leggett  came 
into  the  printing-office  for  the  purpose  of  speaking  to  the  man  whoso 
place  Horace  Greeley  had  taken. 

"  Where 's  Jones  ?"  asked  Mr.  Leggett. 

"  He  's  gone  away,"  replied  one  of  the  men. 

"  Who  has  taken  his  place,  then  ?"  said  the  irritable  editor. 

"  There 's  the  man,"  said  some  one,  pointing  to  Horace,  who  was 
1  bobbing'  at  the  case  in  his  peculiar  way. 

Mr.  Leggett  looked  at  *  the  man,'  and  said  to  the  foreman,  "  For 
God's  sake  discharge  him,  and  let 's  have  ^cent-looking  men  in  the 
office,  at  least." 

Horace  was  accordingly — so  goes  the  story — discharged  at  the 
end  of  the  week. 

He  worked,  also,  for  a  few  days  upon  the  '  Commercial  Adver- 
tiser,' as  a  '  sub,'  probably.  Then,  for  two  weeks  and  a  half,  upon 
a  little  paper  called  '  The  Amulet,'  a  weekly  journal  of  literature 
and  art.  The  '  Amulet'  was  discontinued,  and  our  hero  had  to  wait 
ten  years  for  his  wages. 

His  next  step  can  be  given  in  his  own  words.    The  following  is 


134  FROM  OFFICE  TO  OFFICE. 

the  beginning  of  a  paragraph  in  the  New  Yorker  of  March  2d, 
1839: 

"  Seven  years  ago,  on  the  first  of  January  last — that  being  a  holi- 
day, and  the  writer  being  then  a  stranger  with  few  social  greetings 
to  exchange  in  New  York — he  inquired  his  way  into  the  ill-furnish- 
ed, chilly,  forlorn-looking  attic  printing-office  in  which  William  T. 
Porter,  in  company  with  another  very  young  man,  who  soon  after 
abandoned  the  enterprise,  had  just  issued  the  '  Spirit  of  the  Times,' 
the  first  weekly  journal  devoted  entirely  to  sporting  intelligence 
ever  attempted  in  this  country.  It  was  a  moderate-sized  sheet  of 
indifferent  paper,  with  an  atrocious  wood-cut  for  the  head — about 
as  uncomely  a  specimen  of  the  '  fine  arts'  as  our  '  native  talent'  has 
produced.  The  paper  was  about  in  proportion ;  for  neither  of  its 
conductors  had  fairly  attained  his  majority,  and  each  was  destitute 
of  the  experience  so  necessary  in  such  an  enterprise,  and  of  the 
funds  and  extensive  acquaintance  which  were  still  more  necessary 
to  its  success.  But  one  of  them  possessed  a  persevering  spirit  and 
an  ardent  enthusiasm  for  the  pursuit  to  which  he  had  devoted  him- 
self." 

And,  consequently,  the  '  Spirit  of  the  Times'  still  exists  and  flour- 
ishes, under  the  proprietorship  of  its  originator  and  founder,  Colonel 
Porter.  For  this  paper,  our  hero,  during  his  short  stay  in  the  office, 
composed  a  multitude  of  articles  and  paragraphs,  most  of  them 
short  and  unimportant.  As  a  specimen  of  his  style  at  this  period, 
I  copy  from  the  *  Spirit'  of  May  5th,  1832,  the  following  epistle, 
which  was  considered  extremely  funny  in  those  innocent  days  : 

"  MESSES.  EDITORS  : — Hear  me  you  shall,  pity  me  you  must,  while  I  pro- 
ceed to  give  a  short  account  of  the  dread  calamities  which  this  vile  habit  of 
turning  the  whole  city  upside  down,  'tother  side  out,  and  wrong  side  before, 
on  the  First  of  May,  has  brought  down  on  my  devoted  head. 

"  You  must  know,  that  having  resided  but  a  few  months  in  your  city,  I  was 
totally  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  said  custom.  So,  on  the  morning  of  the 
eventful,  and  to  me  disastrous  day,  I  rose,  according  to  immemorial  usage, 
at  the  dying  away  of  the  last  echo  of  the  breakfast  bell,  and  soon  found  ray- 
self  seated  over  my  coffee,  and  my  good  landlady  exercising  her  powers  of 
volubility  (no  weak  ones)  apparently  in  my  behalf;  but  so  deep  was  the  rev- 
erie in  which  my  half-awakened  brain  was  then  engaged,  that  I  did  not  catch 
a  single  idea  from  the  whole  of  her  discourse.  I  smiled  and  said,  "  Yes, 
ma'am,"  "certainly  ma'am,"  at  each  pause;  and  having  speedily  dispatched 


NATURALLY  FOND  01?  THE  DRAMA.  185 

my  breakfast,  sallied  immediately  out,  and  proceeded  to  attend  to  the  busi- 
ness which  engrossed  my  mind.  Dinner-time  came,  but  no  time  for  dinner ; 
and  it  was  late  before  I  was  at  liberty  to  wend  my  way,  over  wheel-barrows, 
barrels,  and  all  manner  of  obstructions,  towards  my  boarding-house.  All  here 
was  still ;  but  by  the  help  of  my  night-keys,  I  soon  introduced  myself  to  my 
chamber,  dreaming  of  nothing  but  sweet  repose  ;  when,  horrible  to  relate  ! 
my  ears  were  instantaneously  saluted  by  a  most  piercing  female  shriek,  pro- 
ceeding exactly  from  my  own  bed,  or  at  least  from  the  place  where  it  should 
have  been ;  and  scarcely  had  sufficient  time  elapsed  for  my  hair  to  bristle  on 
my  head,  before  the  shriek  was  answered  by  the  loud  vociferations  of  a  fero- 
cious mastiff  in  the  kitchen  beneath,  and  re-echoed  by  the  outcries  of  half  a 
dozen  inmates  of  the  house,  and  these  again  succeeded  by  the  rattle  of  the 
watchman  ;  and  the  next  moment,  there  was  a  round  dozen  of  them  (besides 
the  dog)  at  my  throat,  and  commanding  me  to  tell  them  instantly  what  the 
devil  all  this  meant. 

"  You  do  well  to  ask  that,"  said  I,  as  soon  as  I  could  speak,  "  after  falling 
upon  me  in  this  fashion  in  my  own  chamber." 

"  0  take  him  off,"  said  the  one  who  assumed  to  be  the  master  of  the 
house ;  "  perhaps  he  'a  not  a  thief  after  all;  but,  being  too  tipsy  for  starlight, 
he  has  made  a  mistake  in  trying  to  find  his  lodgings," — and  in  spite  of  all 
my  remonstrances,  I  was  forthwith  marched  off  to  the  watch-house,  to  pass 
the  remainder  of  the  night.  In  the  morning,  I  narrowly  escaped  commitment 
on  the  charge  of  '  burglary  with  intent  to  steal  (I  verily  believe  it  would  have 
gone  hard  with  me  if  the  witnesses  could  have  been  got  there  at  that  unseason- 
able hour),  and  I  was  finally  discharged  with  a  solemn  admonition  to  guard 
for  the  future  against  intoxication  (think  of  that,  sir,  for  a  member  of  the 
Cold  Water  Society !) 

"  I  spent  the  next  day  in  unraveling  the  mystery ;  and  found  that  my  land- 
lord had  removed  his  goods  and  chattels  to  another  part  of  the  city,  on  the 
established  day,  supposing  me  to  be  previously  acquainted  and  satisfied  with 
his  intention  of  so  doing;  and  another  family  had  immediately  taken  hia 
place  ;  of  which  changes,  my  absence  of  mind  and  absence  from  dinner  had 
kept  me  ignorant ;  and  thus  had  I  been  led  blindfold  into  a  '  Comedy '  (or 
rather  tragedy)  of  Errors.'  Your  unfortunate, 

TIMOTHY  WIGGINS. 

His  connection  with  the  office  of  a  sporting  paper  procured  him 
occasionally  an  order  for  admission  to  a  theatre,  which  he  used. 
He  appeared  to  have  had  a  natural  liking  for  the  drama  ;  all  intel- 
ligent persons  have  when  they  are  young ;  and  one  of  his  compan- 
ions of  that  day  remembers  well  the  intense  interest  with  which  he 
once  witnessed  the  performance  of  Richard  III.,  at  the  old  Chat- 


136  PROM    OFFICE    TO    OFFICE. 

ham  theatre.  At  the  close  of  the  play,  he  said  there  was  another 
of  Shakespeare's  tragedies  which  he  had  long  wished  to  see,  and 
that  was  Hamlet. 

Soon  after  writing  his  letter,  the  luckless  Wiggins,  tempted  hy 
the  prospect  of  better  wages,  left  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  and  went 
back  to  West's,  and  worked  for  some  weeks  on  Prof.  Bush's  Notes 
on  Genesis,  'the  worst  manuscript  ever  seen  in  a  printing-office.7 
That  finished,  he  returned  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  and  remained 
till  October,  when  he  went  to  visit  his  relatives  in  New  Hampshire. 
He  reached  his  uncle's  farm  in  Londonderry  in  the  apple-gathering 
season,  and  going  at  once  to  the  orchard  found  his  cousins  engaged 
in  that  pleasing  exercise.  Horace  jumped  over  the  fence,  saluted 
them  in  the  hearty  and  nnornamental  Scotch-Irish  style,  sprang  in- 
to a  tree,  and  assisted  them  till  their  task  for  the  day  was  done,  and 
then  all  the  party  went  frolicking  into  the  woods  on  a  grape-hunt. 
Horace  was  a  welcome  guest.  He  was  full  of  fun  in  those  days, 
and  kept  the  boys  roaring  with  his  stories,  or  agape  with  descrip- 
tions of  city  scenes. 

Back  to  the  city  again  early  in  November,  in  time  and  on  pur- 
pose to  vote  at  the  fall  elections. 

He  went  to  work,  soon  after,  for  Mr.  J.  S.  Redfield,  now  an  emi- 
nent publisher  of  this  city,  then  a  stereotyper.  Mr.  Redfield  favors 
me  with  the  following  note  of  his  connection  with  Horace  Greeley  : 
— "  My  recollections  of  Mr.  Greeley  extend  from  about  the  time  he 
first  came  to  the  city  to  work  as  a  compositor.  I  was  carrying  on 
the  stereotyping  business  in  William  street,  and  having  occasion  one 
day  for  more  compositors,  one  of  the  hands  brought  in  Greeley,  re- 
marking "  sotto  voce  "  as  he  introduced  him,  that  he  was  a  "  boy- 
ish and  rather  odd  looking  genius,"  (to  which  remark  I  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  assenting,)  "  but  he  had  understood  that  he  was  a  good 
workman."  Being  much  in  want  of  help  at  the  time,  Greeley  was 
set  to  work,  and  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  on  Saturday 
night,  that  his  bills  were  much  larger  than  those  of  any  other  com- 
positor in  the  office,  and  oftentimes  nearly  double  those  at  work  by 
the  side  of  him  on  the  same  work.  He  would  accomplish  this, 
too,  and  talk  all  the  time !  The  same  untiring  industry,  and  the 
same  fearlessness  and  independence,  which  have  characterized  his 


THE    FIRST   PENNY   PAPER.  137 

course  as  Editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  were  the  distinguishing 
features  of  his  character  as  a  journeyman." 

He  remained  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Eedfield  till  late  in  December, 
when  the  circumstance  occurred  which  gave  him  his  FIRST  LIFT  in 
the  world.  There  is  a  tide,  it  is  said,  in  the  affairs  of  every  man, 
once  in  his  life,  which  taken  at  the  flood  leads  on  to  fortune. 

Horace  Greeley's  First  Lift  happened  to  take  place  in  connection 
with  an  event  of  great,  world -wide  and  lasting  consequence ;  yet 
one  which  has  never  been  narrated  to  the  public.  It  shall,  there- 
fore, have  in  this  work  a  short  chapter  to  itself. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FIRST  PENNY  PAPER — AND  WHO  THOUGHT  OF  IT. 

Importance  of  the  cheap  daily  press— The  originator  of  the  idea— History  of  the  idea 
—Dr.  Sheppard's  Chatham-street  cogitations— The  Idea  is  conceived— It  is  born- 
Interview  with  Horace  Greeley— The  Doctor  thinks  he  is  '  no  common  boy'— The 
schemer  baffled— Daily  papers  twenty-five  years  ago— Dr.  Sheppard  comes  to  a 
resolution— The  firm  of  Greeley  and  Story— The  Morning  Post  appears— And  fails 
— The  sphere  of  the  cheap  press — Fanny  Fern  and  the  pea-nut  merchant. 

WHEN  the  Historian  of  the  United  States  shall  have  completed 
the  work  that  has  occupied  so  many  busy  and  anxious  years, 
and,  hi  the  tranquil  solitude  of  his  study,  he  reviews  the  long  series 
of  events  which  he  has  narrated,  the  question  may  arise  in  his 
mind, — Which  of  the  events  that  occurred  during  the  first  seventy 
years  of  the  Republic  is  likely  to  exert  the  greatest  and  most  last- 
ing influence  upon  its  future  history  ?  Surely,  he  will  not  pause 
long  for  a  reply.  For,  there  is  one  event,  which  stands  out  so 
prominently  beyond  and  above  all  others,  the  consequences  of  which, 
to  this  country  and  all  other  countries,  must  be  so  immense,  and, 
finally,  so  beneficial,  that  no  other  can  be  seriously  placed  in  com- 
petition with  it.  It  was  the  establishment  of  the  first  penny  daily 
paper  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  year  1833.  Its  results,  in  this 
country,  have  already  been  wonderful  indeed,  and  it  is  destined  to 


138  THE    FIRST   PENNY   PAPER. 

play  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  every  civilized  nation,  and  in 
that  of  every  nation  yet  to  be  civilized. 

Not  that  Editors  are,  in  all  cases,  or  in  most,  the  wisest  of  men ; 
not  that  editorial  writing  has  a  greater  value  than  hasty  composition 
in  general.  Editors  are  a  useful,  a  laborious,  a  generous,  an  honor- 
able class  of  men  and  women,  and  their  writings  have  their  due 
effect.  But,  that  part  of  the  newspaper  which  interests,  awakens, 
moves,  warns,  inspires,  instructs  and  educates  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  people,  the  wise  and  the  unwise,  the  illiterate  and  the 
learned,  is  the  NEWS  I  And  the  News,  the  same  news,  at  nearly  the 
same  instant  of  time,  is  communicated  to  all  the  people  of  this 
fair  and  vast  domain  which  we  inherit,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  the  Cheap  Press,  aided  by  its  allies  the  Kail  and  the  Wire. 

A  catastrophe  happens  to-day  in  New  York.  New  Orleans 
shudders  to-morrow  at  the  recital ;  and  the  Nation  shudders  before 
the  week  ends.  A  '  Great  Word,'  uttered  on  any  stump  in  the 
land,  soon  illuminates  a  million  minds.  A  bad  deed  is  perpetrated, 
and  the  shock  of  disgust  flies  with  electric  rapidity  from  city  to 
city,  from  State  to  State — from  the  heart  that  records  it  to  every 
heart  that  beats.  A  gallant  deed  or  a  generous  one  is  done,  or  a 
fruitful  idea  is  suggested,  and  it  falls,  like  good  seed  which  the 
wind  scatters,  over  all  the  land  at  once.  Leave  the  city  on  a 
day  when  some  stirring  news  is  rife,  travel  as  far  and  as  fast  as 
you  may,  rest  not  by  day  nor  night ;  you  cannot  easily  get  where 
that  News  is  not,  where  it  is  not  the  theme  of  general  thought  and 
talk,  where  it  is  not  doing  its  part  in  informing,  or,  at  least,  exciting 
the  public  mind.  Abandon  the  great  lines  of  travel,  go  rocking  in 
a  stage  over  corduroy  roads,  through  the  wilderness,  to  the  newest 
of  new  villages,  a  cluster  of  log-houses,  in  a  field  of  blackened 
stumps,  and  even  there  you  must  be  prompt  with  your  news,  or  it 
will  have  flown  out  from  a  bundle  of  newspapers  under  the  driver's 
seat,  and  fallen  in  flakes  all  over  the  settlement. 

The  Cheap  Press — its  importance  cannot  be  estimated !  It  puts 
every  mind  in  direct  communication  with  the  greatest  minds,  which 
all,  in  one  way  or  another,  speak  through  its  columns.  It  brings  the 
Course  of  Events  to  bear  on  the  progress  of  every  individual.  It  is 
the  great  leveller,  elevator  and  democraticizer.  It  makes  this  huge 
Commonwealth,  else  so  heterogeneous  and  disunited,  think  with  one 


THB    ORIGINATOR   OF   THE   IDEA.  139 

mind,  feel  with  one  heart,  and  talk  with  one  tongue.  Dissolve  the 
Union  into  a  hundred  petty  States,  and  the  Press  will  still  keep  us, 
in  heart  and  soul  and  habit,  One  People. 

Pardon  this  slight  digression,  dear  reader.  Pardon  it,  because 
the  beginnings  of  the  greatest  things  are,  in  appearance,  so  insig- 
nificant, that  unless  w,e  look  at  them  in  the  light  of  their  conse- 
quences, it  is  impossible  to  take  an  interest  in  them. 

There  are  not,  I  presume,  twenty-five  persons  alive,  who  know 
in  whose  head  it  was,  that  the  idea  of  a  cheap  daily  paper  origin- 
ated. Nor  has  the  proprietor  of  that  head  ever  derived  from  his 
idea,  which  has  enriched  so  many  others,  the  smallest  pecuniary 
advantage.  He  walks  these  streets,  this  day,  an  unknown  man,  and 
poor.  His  name — the  reader  may  forget  it,  History  will  not — is 
HORATIO  DAVID  SHEPPARD.  The  story  of  his  idea,  amply  confirmed 
in  every  particular  by  living  and  unimpeachable  witnesses,  is  the 
following : 

About  the  year  1830,  Mr.  Sheppard,  recently  come  of  age  and 
into  the  possession  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  moved  from  his  native 
"New  Jersey  to  New  York,  and  entered  the  Eldridge  Street  Medical 
School  as  a  student  of  medicine.  He  was  ambitious  and  full  of 
ideas.  Of  course,  therefore,  his  fifteen  hundred  dollars  burned  in  his 
vest  pocket — (where  he  actually  used  to  carry  it,  until  a  fellow  stu- 
dent almost  compelled  him  to  deposit  it  in  a  place  of  safety).  He 
took  to  dabbling  in  newspapers  and  periodicals,  a  method  of  getting 
rid  of  superfluous  cash,  which  is  as  expeditious  as  it  is  fascinating. 
He  soon  had  an  interest  in  a  medical  magazine,  and  soon  after,  a 
share  in  a  weekly  paper.  By  the  time  he  had  completed  his  medi- 
cal studies,  he  had  gained  some  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  news- 
paper business,  and  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  money. 

People  who  live  in  Eldridge  street,  when  they  have  occasion  to 
go  '  down  town,'  must  necessarily  pass  through  Chatham  street,  a 
thoroughfare  which  is  noted,  among  many  other  things,  for  the  ex- 
traordinary number  of  articles  which  are  sold  in  it  for  a  4  penny  a 
piece.'  Apple-stalls,  peanut-stalls,  stalls  for  the  sale  of  oranges, 
melons,  pine-apples,  cocoanuts,  chestnuts,  candy,  shoe-laces,  cakes, 
pocket-combs,  ice-cream,  suspenders,  lemonade,  and  oysters,  line 
the  sidewalk.  In  Chatham  street,  those  small  trades  are  carried  on, 
on  a  scale  of  magnitude,  with  a  loudness  of  vociferation,  and  a 


140 


THE    FIRST    PENNY    PAPER. 


flare  of  lamp-light,  unknown  to  any  other  p' art  of  the  town.  Along 
Chatham  street,  our  medical  student  ofttimes  took  his  way,  musim 
on  the  instability  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  observing,  possibly 
envying,  the  noisy  merchants  of  the  stalls.  He  was  struck  witl 
the  rapidity  with  which  th^y  sold  their  penny  ware.  A  small  bo^ 
would  sell  half  a  dozen  penny  cakes  in  the  course  of  a  minute 
The  difference  between  a  cent,  and  no  money,  did  not  seem  to  b< 
appreciated  by  the  people.  If  a  person  saw  something,  wanted  it 
knew  the  price  to  be  only  a  cent,  he  was  almost  as  certain  to  buj 
it  as  though  it  were  offered  him  for  nothing.  Now,  thought  he,  t( 
make  a  fortune,  one  has  nothing  more  to  do  than  to  produce  i 
tempting  article  which  can  be  sold  profitably  for  a  cent,  place  i 
where  everybody  can  see  it,  and  buy  it,  without  stopping — and  lo 
the  thing  is  done  !  If  it  were  only  possible  to  produce  a  small,  spicj 
daily  paper  for  a  cent,  and  get  boys  to  sell  it  about  the  streets,  hou 
it  would  sell !  How  many  pennies  that  now  go  for  cakes  and  pea- 
nuts would  be  spent  for  news  and  paragraphs  ! 

The  idea  was  born— the  twin  ideas  of  the  penny  paper  and  the 
newsboy.  But,  like  the  young  of  the  kangaroo,  they  crawled  into 
the  mental  pouch  of  the  teeming  originator,  and  nestled  there  for 
months,  before  they  were  fully  formed  and  strong  enough  to  con- 
front the  world. 

Perhaps  it  is  possible,  continued  the  musing  man  of  medicine,  on 
a  subsequent  walk  in  Chatham  street.  He  went  to  a  paper  ware- 
house, and  made  inquiries  touching  the  price  of  the  cheaper  kinds 
of  printing  paper.  He  figured  up  the  cost  of  composition.  He 
computed  office  expenses  and  editorial  salaries.  He  estimated  the 
probable  circulation  of  a  penny  paper,  and  the  probable  income  to 
be  derived  from  advertising.  Surely,  he  could  sell  four  or  five 
thousand  a  day !  There,  for  instance,  is  a  group  of  people ;  suppose 
a  boy  were  at  this  moment  to  go  up  to  them  with  an  armful  of  pa- 
pers, '  only  one  cent,'  I  am  positive,  thought  the  sanguine  projector, 
that  six  of  the  nine  would  buy  a  copy !  His  conclusion  was,  that 
he  could  produce  a  newspaper  about  twice  the  size  of  an  average 
sheet  of  letter-paper,  half  paragraphs  and  half  advertisements,  and 
sell  it  at  a  cent  per  copy,  with  an  ample  profit  to  himself.  He  was 
sure  of  it !  He  had  tried  all  his  arithmetic  upon  the  project,  and 
the  figures  gave  the  same  result  always.  The  twins  leaped  from 


DAILY   PAPERS   TWENTY-FIVE    YEARS   AGO.  141 

the  pouch,  and  taking  their  progenitor  by  the  throat,  led  him  a  fine 
dance  before  he  could  shake  them  off.  For  the  present,  they  pos- 
sessed him  wholly. 

As  most  of  his  little  inheritance  had  vanished,  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  interest  some  one  in  the  scheme  who  had  either  capital 
or  a  printing  office.  The  Spirit  of  the  Times  was  then  in  its  infan- 
cy. To  the  office  of  that  paper,  where  Horace  Greeley  was  then  a 
journeyman,  Mr.  Sheppard  first  directed  his  steps,  and  there  he 
first  unfolded  his  plans  and  exhibited  his  calculations.  Mr.  Greeley 
was  not  present  on  his  first  entrance.  He  came  in  soon  after,  and 
began  telling  in  high  glee  a  story  he  had  picked  up  of  old  Isaac  Hill, 
who  used  to  read  his  speeches  in  the  House,  and  one  day  brought  the 
wrong  speech,  and  got  upon  his  legs,  and  half  way  into  a  swelling  ex- 
ordium before  he  discovered  his  mistake.  The  narrator  told  his  sto- 
ry extremely  well,  taking  off  the  embarrassment  of  the  old  gentleman 
as  he  gradually  came  to  the  knowledge  of  his  misfortune,  to  the  life. 
The  company  were  highly  amused,  and  Mr.  Sheppard  said  to  him- 
self, "  That 's  no  common  ~boy"  Perhaps  it  was  an  unfortunate  mo- 
ment to  introduce  a  bold  and  novel  idea ;  but  it  is  certain  that  every 
individual  present,  from  the  editor  to  the  devil,  regarded  the  notion 
of  a  penny  paper  as  one  of  extreme  absurdity, — foolish,  ridiculous, 
frivolous !  They  took  it  as  a  joke,  and  the  schemer  took  his 
leave. 

Nor  is  it  at  all  surprising  that  they  should  have  regarded  it  in 
that  light.  A  daily  newspaper  in  those  days  was  a  solemn  thing. 
People  in  moderate  circumstances  seldom  saw,  never  bought  one. 
The  price  was  ten  dollars  a  years.  Cut  the  present  Journal  of  Com- 
merce in  halves,  fold  it,  fancy  on  its  second  page  half  a  column  of 
serious  editorial,  a  column  of  news,  half  a  column  of  business  and 
shipping  intelligence,  and  the  rest  of  the  ample  sheet  covered  with 
advertisements,  and  you  have  before  your  mind's  eye  the  New  York 
daily  paper  of  twenty-five  years  ago.  It  was  not  a  thing  for  the 
people  ;  it  appertained  to  the  counting-house ;  it  was  taken  by  the 
wholesale  dealer;  it  was  cumbrous,  heavy,  solemn.  The  idea  of 
making  it  an  article  to  be  cried  about  the  streets,  to  be  sold  for  a 
cent,  to  be  bought  by  workingmen  and  boys,  to  come  into  competi- 
tion with  cakes  and  apples,  must  have  seemed  to  the  respectable 
New  Yorkers  of  1831,  unspeakably  absurd.  When  the  respectable 


142  THE   FIRST   PENNY    PAPER. 

New  Yorker  first  saw  a  penny  paper,  lie  gazed  at  it  (I  saw  him) 
with  a  feeling  similar  to  that  with  which  an  ill-natured  man  may 
be  supposed  to  regard  General  Tom  Thumb,  a  feeling  of  mingled 
curiosity  and  contempt ;  he  put  the  ridiculous  little  thing  into  his 
waistcoat  pocket  to  carry  home  for  the  amusement  of  his  family  ; 
and  he  wondered  what  nonsense  would  be  perpetrated  next. 

Dr.  Sheppard — he  had  now  taken  his  degree — was  not  disheart- 
ened by  the  merry  reception  of  his  idea  at  the  office  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
Times.  He  went  to  other  offices — to  nearly  every  other  office !  For 
eighteen  months  it  was  his  custom,  whenever  opportunity  offered, 
to  expound  his  project  to  printers  and  editors,  and,  in  fact,  to  any 
one  who  would  listen  to  him  long  enough.  He  could  not  convince 
one  man  of  the  feasibility  of  his  scheme, — not  one  f  A  few  people 
thought  it  a  good  idea  for  the  instruction  of  the  million,  and  recom- 
mended him  to  get  some  society  to  take  hold  of  it.  But  not  a 
human  being  could  be  brought  to  believe  that  it  would  pay  as  a 
business,  and  only  a  few  of  the  more  polite  and  complaisant  printers 
could  be  induced  to  consider  the  subject  in  a  serious  light  at  all. 

Eeader,  possessed  with  an  Idea,  reader,  '  in  a  minority  of  one,' 
take  courage  from  the  fact. 

Despairing  of  getting  the  assistance  he  required,  Dr.  Sheppard 
resolved,  at  length,  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  start  the  paper 
himself.  His  means  were  fifty  dollars  in  cash  and  a  promise  of 
credit  for  two  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  paper.  Among  his 
printer  friends  was  Mr.  Francis  Story,  the  foreman  of  the  Spirit 
of  the  Times  office,  who,  about  that  time,  was  watching  for 
an  opportunity  to  get  into  business  on  his  own  account.  To  him 
Dr.  Sheppard  announced  his  intention,  and  proposed  that  he  should 
establish  an  office  and  print  the  forthcoming  paper,  offering  to  pay 
the  bill  for  composition  every  Saturday.  Mr.  Story  hesitated ;  but, 
on  obtaining  from  Mr.  Sylvester  a  promise  of  the  printing  of  his 
Bank  Note  Reporter,  he  embraced  Dr.  Sheppard's  proposal,  and 
offered  Horace  Greeley,  for  whom  he  had  long  entertained  a  warm 
friendship  and  a  great  admiration,  an  equal  share  in  the  enterprise. 
Horace  was  not  favorably  impressed  with  Dr.  Sheppard's  scheme. 
In  the  first  place,  he  had  no  great  faith  in  the  practical  ability  of 
that  gentleman ;  and,  secondly,  he  was  of  opinion  that  the  smallest 
price  for  which  a  daily  paper  could  be  profitably  sold  was  two  cents. 


THE  FIRM  OF  GREELEY  AND  STORY.          143 

His  arguments  on  the  latter  point  did  not  convince  the  ardent  doc- 
tor ;  hut,  with  the  hope  of  overcoming  his  scruples  and  enlisting 
his  co-operation,  he  consented  to  give  up  his  darling  idea,  and  fix 
the  price  of  his  paper  at  two  cents.  Horace  Greeley  agreed,  at 
length,  to  try  his  fortune  as  a  master  printer,  and  in  December,  the 
firm  of  Greeley  and  Story  was  formed. 

Now,  experience  has  since  proved  that  two  cents  is  the  best  price 
for  a  cheap  paper.  But  the  point,  the  charm,  the  impudence  of  Dr. 
Sheppard's  project  all  lay  in  those  magical  words,  'PRICE  ONE 
CENT,'  which  his  paper  was  to  have  borne  on  its  heading — but  did 
not.  And  the  capital  to  be  invested  in  the  enterprise  was  so  ludi- 
crously inadequate,  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  paper  to  pay  at  once, 
or  cease  to  appear.  Horace  Greeley's  advice,  therefore,  though  good 
as  a  general  principle,  was  not  applicable  to  the  case  in  hand.  Not 
that  the  proposed  paper  would,  or  could,  have  succeeded  upon  any 
terms.  Its  failure  was  inevitable.  Dr.  Sheppard  is  one  of  those 
projectors  who  have  the  faculty  of  suggesting  the  most  valuable  and 
fruitful  ideas,  without  possessing,  in  any  degree,  the  qualities  need- 
ful for  their  realization. 

The  united  capital  of  the  two  printers  was  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  They  were  both,  however,  highly  respected  in  the  print- 
ing world,  and  both  had  friends  among  those  whose  operations  keep 
that  world  in  motion.  They  hired  part  of  a  small  office  at  No.  54 
Liberty  street.  Horace  Greeley's  candid  story  prevailed  with  Mr. 
George  Bruce,  the  great  type  founder,  so  far,  that  he  gave  the  new 
firm  credit  for  a  small  quantity  of  type — an  act  of  trust  and  kindness 
which  secured  him  one  of  the  best  customers  he  has  ever  had.  (To 
this  day  the  type  of  the  Tribune  is  supplied  by  Mr.  Bruce.)  Before 
the  new  year  dawned,  Greeley  and  Story  were  ready  to  execute 
every  job  of  printing  which  was  not  too  extensive  or  intricate,  on 
favorable  terms,  and  with  the  utmost  punctuality  and  dispatch. 

On  the  morning  of  January  1st,  1833,  the  MORNING  POST,  and  a 
snow-storm  of  almost  unexampled  fury,  came  upon  the  town  together. 
The  snow  was  a  wet  blanket  upon  the  hopes  of  newsboys  and  car- 
riers, and  quite  deadened  the  noise  of  the  new  paper,  filling  up 
areas,  and  burying  the  tiny  sheet  at  the  doors  of  its  few  subscribers. 
For  several  days  the  streets  were  obstructed  with  snow.  It  was 
very  cold.  There  were  few  people  in  the  streets,  and  those  few 


144  THE   FIRST   PENNY   PAPER. 

were  not  easily  tempted  to  stop  and  fumble  in  their  pockets  for  two 
cents.  The  newsboys  were  soon  discouraged,  and  were  fain  to  run 
shivering  home.  Dr.  Sheppard  was  wholly  unacquainted  with  the 
details  of  editorship,  and  most  of  the  labor  of  getting  up  the  num- 
bers fell  upon  Mr.  Greeley,  and  they  were  produced  under  every 
conceivable  disadvantage.  Yet,  with  all  these  misfortunes  and 
drawbacks,  several  hundred  copies  were  daily  sold,  and  Dr.  Shep- 
pard was  able  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  first  week.  On  the 
second  Saturday,  however,  he  paid  his  printers  half  in  money  and 
half  in  promises.  On  the  third  day  of  the  third  week,  the  faith 
and  the  patience  of  Messrs.  Greeley  and  Story  gave  out,  and  the 
'  Morning  Post'  ceased  to  exist. 

The  last  two  days  of  its  short  life  it  was  sold  for  a  cent,  and  the 
readiness  with  which  it  was  purchased  convinced  Dr.  Sheppard, 
but  him  alone,  that  if  it  had  been  started  at  that  price,  it  would  not 
have  been  a  failure.  His  money  and  his  credit  were  both  gone, 
and  the  error  could  not  be  retrieved.  He  could  not  even  pay  his 
printers  the  residue  of  their  account,  and  he  had,  in  consequence, 
to  endure  some  emphatic  observations  from  Mr.  Story  on  the  mad- 
ness and  presumption  of  his  scheme.  "  Did  n't  I  tell  you  so  ?"  said 
the  other  printers.  "  Everybody,"  says  Dr.  Sheppard,  "  abused  me, 
except  Horace  Greeley.  He  spoke  very  kindly,  and  told  me  not  to 
mind  what  Story  said."  The  doctor,  thenceforth,  washed  his 
hands  of  printers'  ink,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

Nine  months  after,  the  SUN  appeared,  a  penny  paper,  a  dingy 
sheet  a  little  larger  than  a  sheet  of  letter  paper.  Its  success  demon- 
strated the  correctness  of  Dr.  Sheppard's  calculations,  and  justified 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  had  pursued  his  Idea.  The  office 
from  which  the  Sun  was  issued  was  one  of  the  last  which  Dr. 
Sheppard  had  visited  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  co-operation. 
Neither  of  the  proprietors  was  present,  but  the  ardent  schemer  ex- 
pounded his  plans  to  a  journeyman,  and  thus  planted  the  seed  which, 
in  September,  produced  fruit  in  the  form  of  the  Sun,  which  '  shines 
for  all.' 

This  morning,  the  cheap  daily  press  of  this  city  has  issued  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  sheets,  the  best  of  which  contain  a  history 
of  the  world  for  one  day,  so  completely  given,  so  intelligently  com- 


FANNY  FERN  AND  THE  PEA-NUT  MERCHANT.       145 

mented  upon,  as  to  place  the  New  York  Press  at  the  head  of  the 
journalism  of  the  world.  The  Cheap  Press,  be  it  observed,  had, 
first  of  all,  to  create  itself,  and,  secondly,  to  create  its  Public.  The 
papers  of  the  old  school  have  gone  on  their  way  prospering.  They 
are  read  by  the  class  that  read  them  formerly.  But — mark  that 
long  line  of  hackmen,  each  seated  on  his  box  waiting  for  a  customer, 
and  each  reading  his  morning  paper  !  Observe  the  paper  that  is 
thrust  into  the  pocket  of  the  omnibus  driver.  Look  into  shops  and 
factories  at  the  dinner  hour,  and  note  how  many  of  the  men  are 
reading  their  newspaper  as  they  eat  their  dinner.  All  this  is  new. 
All  this  has  resulted  from  the  Chatham-street  cogitations  of  Hora- 
tio David  Sheppard. 

A  distinguished  authoress  of  this  city  relates  the  following  cir- 
cumstance, which  occurred  last  summer  : 

THE  MAN  WHO  DOES  TAKE  THE  PAPEK. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  JV.  Y.  Tribune. 

SIR  : — Not  long  since  I  read  in  your  paper  an  article  headed  "  the  man 
who  never  took  a  newspaper."  In  contrast  to  this  I  would  relate  to  you  a 
little  incident  which  came  under  my  own  observation  : 

Having  been  disappointed  the  other  morning  in  receiving  that  part  of  my 
breakfast  contained  in  THE  N.  Y.  DAILY  TRIBUNE,  I  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  pee  what  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  satisfaction.  After  half  an  hour's 
diligent  search  he  returned,  much  to  my  chagrin,  empty-handed.  Recollecting 
an  old  copy  set  me  at  school  after  this  wise  :  "If  you  want  a  thing  done  do  it 
yourself,"  I  seized  my  bonnet  and  sallied  forth.  Not  far  from  my  domicil 
appears  each  morning,  with  the  rising  sun,  an  old  huckster-man,  whose  stock 
in  trade  consists  of  two  empty  barrels,  across  which  is  thrown  a  pro  tern. 
counter  in  the  shape  of  a  plank,  a  pint  of  pea-nuts,  six  sticks  of  peppermint 
candy,  half  a  dozen  choleric  looking  pears  and  apples,  copies  of  the  daily 
papers,  and  an  old  stubby  broom,  with  which  the  owner  carefully  brushes  up 
the  nut-shells  dropped  by  graceless  urchins  to  the  endangerment  of  his  side- 
walk lease. 

"  Have  you  this  morning's  TRIBUNE  ?"  said  I,  looking  as  amiable  as  I 
knew  how. 

"  No  Ma'am"  was  the  decided  reply. 

"  Why — yes,  you  have,"  said  I,  laying  my  hand  on  the  desired  number. 

"Well,  you  can't  have  that,  Ma'am,"  said  the  disconcerted  peanut  mer- 
chant, "for  I  haven't  read  it  myself!" 

"  I  '11  give  you  three  cents  for  it,"  eaid  I. 

7 


146  THE    FIRM    CONTINUES. 

(A  shake  of  the  head.) 

"  Four  cents  ?" 

(Another  shake.) 

"Sixpence?"  (I  was  getting  excited.) 

"  It 's  no  use,  Ma'am,"  said  the  persistent  old  fellow.  "  It 's  the  only  num- 
ber I  could  get.  and  I  tell  you  that  nobody  shall  have  that  TRIBUNE  till  I  have 
read  it  myself !" 

You  should  have  seen,  Mr.  Editor,  the  shapeless  hat,  the  mosaic  coat,  the 
tattered  vest,  and  the  extraordinary  pair  of  trousers  that  were  educated  up 
to  that  TRIBUNE— it  was  a  picture !  FANNY  FEBN. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE    FIKM    CONTINUES. 

Lottery  printing  — The  Constitutionalist— Dudley  S.  Gregory— The  lottery  suicide— 
The  firm  prospers — Sudden  death  of  Mr.  Story — A  new  partner — Mr.  Greeley  as  a 
master— A  dinner  story— Sylvester  Graham— Horace  Greeley  at  the  Graham 
House — The  New  Yorker  projected — James  Gordon  Bennett. 

THE  firm  of  Greeley  and  Story  was  not  seriously  injured  by  the 
failure  of  the  Morning  Post.  They  stopped  printing  it  in  time,  and 
their  loss  was  not  more  than  fifty  or  'sixty  dollars.  Meanwhile, 
their  main  stay  was  Sylvester's  Bank  Note  Keporter,  which  yielded 
about  fifteen  dollars'  worth  of  composition  a  week,  payment  for  which 
was  sure  and  regular.  In  a  few  weeks  Mr.  Story  was  fortunate 
enough  to  procure  a  considerable  quantity  of  lottery  printing.  This 
was  profitable  work,  and  the  firm,  thenceforth,*  paid  particular  at- 
tention to  that  branch  of  business,  and  our  hero  acquired  great  dex- 
terity in  setting  up  and  arranging  the  list  of  prizes  and  drawings. 

Among  other  things,  they  had,  for  some  time,  the  printing  of  a 
small  tri-weekly  paper  called  the  Constitutionalist,  which  was  the 
organ  of  the  great  lottery  dealers,  and  the  vehicle  of  lottery  news,  a 
small,  dingy,  quarto  of  four  pages,  of  which  one  page  only  was 
devoted  to  reading  matter,  the  rest  being  occupied  by  lottery 
table's  and  advertisements.  The  heading  of  this  interesting  peri- 


DtTDLEV   S.  GREGORY.  147 

odical  was  as  follows :  "  THE  CONSTITUTIONALIST,  Wilmington,  Dela- 
ware. Devoted  to  the  Interests  of  Literature,  Internal  Improve- 
ment, Common  Schools,  &c.,  &c."  The  last  half  square  of  the  last 
column  of  the  Constitutionalist's  last  page  contained  a  standing 
advertisement,  which  read  thus : — 

"  Greeley  and  Story,  No.  54  Liberty-street,  New  York,  respectfully 
solicit  the  patronage  of  the  public  to  their  business  of  Letter-Press 
Printing,  particularly  Lottery  Printing,  such  as  schemes,  periodicals, 
&c.,  which  will  be  executed  on  favorable  terms." 

Horace  Greeley,  who  had  by  this  time  become  an  inveterate 
paragraphist,  and  was  scribbler- general  to  the  circle  in  which  he 
moved,  did  not  disdain  to  contribute  to  the  first  page  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalist. The  only  set  of  the  paper  which  has  been  preserved 
I  have  examined ;  and  though  many  short  articles  are  pointed  out 
by  its  proprietor,  as  written  by  Mr.  Greeley,  I  find  none  of  the 
slightest  present  interest,  and  none  which  throw  any  light  upon 
his  feelings,  thoughts  or  habits,  at  the  time  when  they  were  writ- 
ten. He  wrote  well  enough,  however,  to  impress  his  friends  with 
a  high  idea  of  his  talent ;  and  his  prompt  fidelity  in  all  his  transac- 
tions, at  this  period,  secured  him  one  friend,  who,  in  addition  to  a 
host  of  other  good  qualities,  chanced  to  be  the  possessor,  or  wielder, 
of  extensive  means.  This  friend,  at  various  subsequent  crises  of 
our  hero's  life,  proved  to  be  a  friend  indeed,  because  a  friend  in 
need.  They  sat  together,  long  after,  the  printer  and  the  patron,  in 
the  representative's  hall  at  Washington,  as  members  of  the  thirtieth 
Congress.  Why  shall  I  not  adorn  this  page  by  writing  on  it  the 
name  of  the  kindly,  the  munificent  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  to  whose 
wise  generosity,  Jersey  City,  and  Jersey  Citizens,  owe  so  much  ;  m 
whose  hands  large  possessions  are  far  more  a  public  than  a  private 
good? 

Mr.  Gregory  was,  in  1833,  the  agent  or  manager  of  a  great  lottery 
association,  and  he  had  much  to  do  with  arranging  the  tables  and 
schemes  published  in  the  Constitutionalist.  This  brought  him  in 
contact  with  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Greeley  and  Story, 
to  whose  talents  his  attention  was  soon  called  by  a  particular  circum- 
stance. A  young  man,  who  had  lost  all  his  property  by  the  lot- 
tery, in  a  moment  of  desperation  committed  suicide.  A  great  hue 
and  cry  arose  all  over  the  country  against  lotteries ;  and  many 


148  THE   FIRM   CONTINUES. 

newspapers  clamored  for  their  suppression  by  law.  The  lottery 
dealers  were  alarmed.  In  the  midst  of  this  excitement,  Horace 
Greeley,  while  standing  at  the  case,  composed  an  article  on  the 
subject,  the  purport  of  which  is  said  to  have  been,  that  the  argu- 
ment for  and  against  lotteries  was  not  affected  by  the  suicide  of  that 
young  man ;  but  it  simply  proved,  that  he,  the  suicide,  was  a  per- 
son of  weak  character,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question 
whether  the  State  ought,  or  ought  not,  to  license  lotteries.  This 
article  was  inserted  in  one  of  the  lottery  papers,  attracted  consider- 
able attention,  and  made  Mr.  Gregory  aware  that  his  printer  was 
not  an  ordinary  man.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Greeley  changed  his  opin- 
ion on  the  subject  of  lotteries,  and  advocated  their  suppression 
by  law. 

Greeley  and  Story  were  now  prosperous  printers.  Their  business 
steadily  increased,  and  they  began  to  accumulate  capital.  The  term 
of  their  copartnership,  however,  was  short.  The  great  dissolver  of 
partnerships,  King  Death  himself,  dissolved  theirs  in  the  seventh 
month  of  its  existence.  On  the  9th  of  July,  Francis  Story  went 
down  the  bay  on  an  excursion,  and  never  returned  alive.  He  was 
drowned  by  the  upsetting  of  a  boat,  and  his  body  was  brought  back 
to  the  city  the  same  evening.  There  had  existed  between  these 
young  partners  a  warm  friendship.  Mr.  Story's  admiration  of  the 
character  and  talents  of  our  hero  amounted  to  enthusiasm;  and 
he,  on  his  part,  could  not  but  love  the  man  who  so  loved  him.  When 
he  went  up  to  the  coffin  to  look  for  the  last  time  on  the  marble 
features  that  had  never  turned  to  his  with  an  unkind  expression,  he 
said,  "  Poor  Story !  shall  I  ever  meet  with  any  one  who  will  bear 
,v  ith  me  as  he  did  ?"  To  the  bereaved  family  Horace  Greeley  be- 
haved with  the  most  scrupulous  justice,  sending  Mr.  Story's  mother 
half  of  all  the  little  outstanding  accounts  as  soon  as  they  were  paid, 
and  receiving  into  the  vacant  place  a  brother-in-law  of  his  deceased 
partner,  Mr.  Jonas  Winchester,  a  gentleman  now  well  known  to  the 
press  and  the  people  of  this  country. 

A  short  time  before,  he  had  witnessed  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Win- 
chester by  the  Episcopal  form.  He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the 
ceremony,  listening  to  it  in  an  attitude  expressive  of  the  profoundest 
interest;  and  when  it  was  over,  he  exclaimed  aloud,  "That's  the 


SYLVESTER    GRAHAM.  149 

most  beautiful  service  I  ever  saw.  If  ever  I  am  married  it  shall  be 
by  that  form." 

The  business  of  "  Greeley  and  Co."  went  on  prospering  through 
the  year ;  but  increase  of  means  made  not  the  slightest  difference 
in  our  hero's  habits  or  appearance.  His  indifference  to  dress  was 
a  chronic  complaint,  and  the  ladies  of  his  partner's  family  tried  in 
vain  to  coax  and  laugh  him  into  a  conformity  with  the  usages  of 
society.  They  hardly  succeeded  in  inducing  him  to  keep  his  shirt 
buttoned  over  his  white  bosom.  "  He  was  always  a  clean  man,  you 
know,"  says  one  of  them.  There  was  not  even  the  show  or  pre- 
tence of  discipline  in  the  office.  One  of  the  journeymen  made  an 
outrageous  caricature  of  his  employer,  and  showed  it  to  him  one 
day  as  he  came  from  dinner.  "Who's  that?"  asked  the  man. 
"That's  me,"  said  the  master,  with  a  smile,  and  passed  in  to  his 
work.  The  men  made  a  point  of  appearing  to  differ  in  opinion  from 
him  on  every  subject,  because  they  liked  to  hear  him  talk ;  and, 
one  day,  after  a  long  debate,  he  exclaimed,  "  Why,  men,  if  I  were 
to  say  that  that  black  man  there  was  black,  you  'd  all  swear  he  was 
white."  He  worked  with  all  his  former  intensity  and  absorption. 
Often,  such  conversations  as  these  took  place  in  the  office  about  the 
middle  of  the  day : 

(H.  G.,  looking  up  from  his  work)— Jonas,  have  I  been  to  dinner? 

(Mr.  Winchester) — You  ought  to  know  best.    I  do  n't  know. 

(H.  G.) — John,  have  I  been  to  dinner  ? 

(John)— I  believe  not.    Has  he,  Tom  ? 

To  which  Tom  would  reply  4  no,'  or  ;  yes,  according  to  his  own 
recollection  or  John's  wink ;  and  if  the  office  generally  concurred  in 
Tom's  decision,  Horace  would  either  go  to  dinner  or  resume  his 
work,  in  unsuspecting  accordance  therewith. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  embraced  the  first  of  his  two 
"  isms"  (he  has  never  had  but  two).  Graham  arose  and  lectured, 
and  mode  a  noise  in  the  world,  and  obtained  followers.  The  sub- 
stance of  his  message  was  that  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
are  in  the  habit  of  taking  our  food  in  too  concentrated  a  form. 
Bulk  is  necessary  as  well  as  nutriment;  brown  bread  is  better 
than  white ;  and  meat  should  be  eaten  only  once  a  day,  or  never, 
said  the  Rev.  Dr.  Graham.  Stimulants,  he  added,  were  pernicious, 
and  their  apparent  necessity  arises  solely  from  too  concentrated,  and 


150  THE   FIRM    CONTINUES. 

therefore  indigestible  food.  A  simple  message,  and  one  most  obvi- 
ously true.  The  wonder  is,  not  that  he  should  have  obtained  fol- 
lowers, but  that  there  should  have  been  found  one  human  being  so 
besottedly  ignorant  and  so  incapable  of  being  instructed  as  to  deny 
the  truth  of  his  leading  principles.  Graham  was  a  remarkable  man. 
He  was  one  of  those  whom  nature  has  gifted  with  the  power  of 
taking  an  interest  in  human  welfare.  He  was  a  discoverer  of  the 
facts,  that  most  of  us  are  sick,  and  that  none  of  us  need  be ;  that 
disease  is  impious  and  disgraceful,  the  result,  in  almost  every  in- 
stance, of  folly  or  crime.  He  exonerated  God  from  the  aspersions 
cast  upon  his  wisdom  and  goodness  by  those  who  attribute  disease 
to  his  "  mysterious  dispensations,"  and  laid  all  the  blame  and  shame 
of  the  ills  that^sA  endures  at  the  door  of  those  who  endure  them. 
Graham  was  one  of  the  two  or  three  men  to  whom  this  nation 
might,  with  some  propriety,  erect  a  monument.  Some  day,  perhaps, 
a  man  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  Graham's  two  tough  and  wordy 
volumes,  and  present  the  substance  of  them  to  the  public  in  a  form 
which  will  not  repel,  but  win  the  reader  to  perusal  and  convic- 
tion. 

Horace  Greeley,  like  every  other  thinking  person  that  heard  Dr. 
Graham  lecture,  was  convinced  that  upon  the  whole  he  was  right. 
He  abandoned  the  use  of  stimulants,  and  took  care  in  selecting  his 
food,. to  see  that  there  was  the  proper  proportion  between  its  bulk 
and  its  nutriment ;  i.  e.  he  ate  Graham  bread,  little  meat,  and  plen- 
ty of  rice,  Indian  meal,  vegetables  and  fruit.  He  went,  after  a  time, 
to  board  at  the  Graham  house,  a  hotel  conducted,  as  its  name  im- 
ported, on  Graham  principles,  the  rules  and  regulations  having 
been  written  by  Dr.  Graham  himself.  The  first  time  our  friend  ap- 
peared at  the  table  of  the  Graham  House,  a  silly  woman  who  lived 
there  tried  her  small  wit  upon  him. 

"  It 's  lucky,"  said  she  to  the  landlady,  "  that  you  Ve  no  cat  in 
the  house." 

"  Why  ?"  asked  the  landlady. 

"  Because,"  was  the  killing  reply,  "  if  you  had,  the  cat  would  cer- 
tainly take  that  man  with  the  white  head  for  a  gosling,  and  fly  at 
him." 

Gentlemen  who  boarded  with  him  at  the  Graham  House,  remem- 
ber him  as  a  Portentious  Anomaly,  one  who,  on  ordinary  occasions, 


EDITOR    OF    THE   NEW    YORKER.  151 

said  nothing,  but  was  occasionally  roused  to  most  vehement  argu- 
ment ;  a  man  much  given  to  reading  and  cold-water  baths. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1834,  the  dream  of  editorship  re- 
vived in  the  soul  of  Horace  Greeley.  A  project  for  starting  a  week- 
ly paper  began  to  be  agitated  in  the  office.  The  firm,  which  then 
consisted  of  three  members,  H.  Greeley,  Jonas  Winchester,  and  E. 
Sibbett,  considered  itself  worth  three  thousand  dollars,  and  was  fur- 
ther of  opinion,  that  it  contained  within  itself  an  amount  of  edito- 
rial talent  sufficient  to  originate  and  conduct  a  family  paper  supe- 
rior to  any  then  existing.  The  firm  was  correct  in  both  opinions, 
and  the  result  was — the  NEW  YORKEE. 

An  incident  connected  with  the  job  office  of  Greeley  &  Co.  is, 
perhaps,  worth  mentioning  here.  One  James  Gordon  Bennett,  a 
person  then  well  known  as  a  smart  writer  for  the  press,  came  to 
Horace  Greeley,  and  exhibiting  a  fifty-dollar  bill  and  some  other 
notes  of  smaller  denomination  as  his  cash  capital,  invited  him  to 
join  in  setting  up  a  new  daily  paper,  the  New  York  Herald.  Our 
hero  declined  the  offer,  but  recommended  James  Gordon  to  apply 
to  another  printer,  naming  one,  who  he  thought  would  like  to 
share  in  such  an  enterprise.  To  him  the  editor  of  the  Herald  did 
apply,  and  with  success.  The  Herald  appeared  soon  after,  under 
the  joint  proprietorship  of  Bennett  and  the  printer  alluded  to.  Up- 
on the  subsequent  burning  of  the  Herald  office,  the  partners  sepa- 
rated, and  the  Herald  was  thenceforth  conducted  by  Bennett  alone. 


CHAPTER  III. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  NEW  YORKER. 

Character  of  the  Paper— Its  Early  Fortunes— Happiness  of  the  Editor— Scene  in  the  Of- 
fice— Specimens  of  Horace  Greeley's  Poetry — Subjects  of  his  Essays— His  Opinions 
then— His  Marriage— The  Silk-stocking  Story— A  day  in  Washington— His  impress- 
ions of  the  Senate — Pecuniary  difficulties — Causes  of  the  New-Yorker's  ill-success 
as  a  Business— The  missing  letters— The  Editor  gets  a  nickname— The  Agonies 
of  a  Debtor— Park  Benjamin— Henry  J.  Raymond. 

LUCKILY  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  writer,  Mr.  Greeley  is 
the  most  autobiographical  of  editors.    He  takes  his  readers  into  his 


152  EDITOR    OF    THE    NEW   YORKER. 

confidence,  his  sanctum,  and  his  iron  safe.  He  has  not  the  least  ob- 
jection  to  tell  the  public  the  number  of  his  subscribers,  the  amount 
of  his  receipts,  the  excess  of  his  receipts  over  his  expenditures,  or 
the  excess  of  his  expenditures  over  his  receipts.  Accordingly,  the 
whole  history  of  the  New  Yorker,  and  the  story  of  its  editor's  joys 
and  sorrows,  his  trials  and  his  triumphs,  lie  plainly  and  fully  writ- 
ten in  the  New  Yorker  itself. 

The  New  Yorker  was,  incomparably,  the  best  newspaper  of  its 
kind  that  had  ever  been  published  in  this  country.  It  was  printed, 
at  first,  upon  a  large  folio  sheet ;  afterwards,  in  two  forms,  folio  and 
quarto,  the  former  at  two  dollars  a  year,  the  latter  at  three.  Its 
contents  were  of  four  kinds ;  literary  matter,  selected  from  home 
and  foreign  periodicals,  and  well  selected ;  editorial  articles  by  the 
editor,  vigorously  and  courteously  expressed ;  news,  chiefly  politi- 
cal, compiled  with  an  accuracy  new  to  American  journalism ;  city, 
literary,  and  miscellaneous  paragraphs.  The  paper  took  no  side  in 
politics,  though  the  ardent  convictions  of  the  editor  were  occasion- 
ally manifest,  in  spite  of  himself.  The  heat  and  fury  of  some  of 
his  later  writings  never  characterize  the  essays  of  the  New  Yorker. 
He  was  always  gentle,  however  strong  and  decided ;  and  there  was 
a  modesty  and  candor  in  his  manner  of  writing  that  made  the  sub- 
scriber a  friend.  For  example,  in  the  very  first  number,  announc- 
ing the  publication  of  certain  mathematical  books,  he  says,  "  As  we 
are  not  ourselves  conversant  with  the  higher  branches  of  mathemat- 
ics, we  cannot  pretend  to  speak  authoritatively  upon  the  merits  of 
these  publications" — a  kind  of  avowal  which  omniscient  editors  are 
not  prone  to  make. 

A  paper,  that  lived  long,  never  stole  into  existence  more  quietly 
than  the  New  Yorker.  Fifteen  of  the  personal  friends  of  the  edi- 
tors had  promised  to  become  subscribers ;  and  when,  on  the  22d  of 
March,  1834,  the  first  number  appeared,  it  sold  to  the  extent  of  one 
hundred  copies.  No  wonder.  Neither  of  the  proprietors  had  any 
reputation  with  the  public ;  all  of  them  were  very  young,  and  the 
editor  evidently  supposed  that  it  was  only  necessary  to  make  a  good 
paper  in  order  to  sell  a  great  many  copies.  The  *  Publishers'  Ad- 
dress,' indeed,  expressly  said : — 

"  There  is  one  disadvantage  attending  our  debut  which  is  seldom  encoun- 


SCENE   IN   THE   OFFICE.  153 

tered  in  the  outset  of  periodicals  aspiring  to  general  popularity  and  patron- 
age. Ours  is  not  blazoned  through  the  land  as,  '  The  Cheapest  Periodical  in 
the  World,'  '  The  Largest  Paper  ever  Published,'  or  any  of  the  captivating 
clap-traps  wherewith  enterprising  gentlemen,  possessed  of  a  convenient  stock 
of  assurance,  are  wont  to  usher  in  their  successive  experiments  on  the  gulli- 
bility of  the  Public.  No  likenesses  of  eminent  and  favorite  authors  will  em- 
bellish our  title,  while  they  disdain  to  write  for  our  columns.  No  '  distin- 
guished literary  and  fashionable  characters '  have  been  dragged  in  to  bolster 
up  a  rigmarole  of  preposterous  and  charlatan  pretensions.  And  indeed  so 
serious  is  this  deficiency,  that  the  first  (we  may  say  the  only)  objection  which 
has  been  started  by  our  most  judicious  friends  in  the  discussion  of  our  plans 
and  prospects,  has  invariably  been  this : — '  You  do  not  indulge  sufficiently  in 
high-sounding  pretensions.  You  cannot  succeed  without  humbug?  Our  an- 
swer has  constantly  been : — '  We  shall  try,'  and  in  the  spirit  of  this  deter- 
mination, we  respectfully  solicit  of  our  fellow-citizens  the  extension  of  that 
share  of  patronage  which  they  shall  deem  warranted  by  our  performances 
rather  than  our  promises." 

The  public  took  the  New  Yorker  at  its  word.  The  second  num- 
ber had  a  sale  of  nearly  two  hundred  copies,  and  for  three  months, 
the  increase  averaged  a  hundred  copies  a  week.  In  September,  the 
circulation  was  2,500 ;  and  the  second  volume  began  with  4,500. 
During  the  first  year,  three  hundred  papers  gave  the  New  Yorker 
a  eulogistic  notice.  The  editor  became,  at  once,  a  person  known 
and  valued  throughout  the  Union.  He  enjoyed  his  position  thor- 
oughly, and  he  labored  not  more  truly  with  all  his  might,  than  with 
all  his  heart. 

The  spirit  in  which  he  performed  his  duties,  and  the  glee  with 
which  he  entered  into  the  comicalities  of  editorial  life,  cannot  be 
more  agreeably  shown  than  by  transcribing  his  own  account  of  a 
Scene  which  was  enacted  in  the  office  of  the  New  Yorker,  soon 
after  its  establishment.  The  article  was  entitled  'Editorial  Lux- 


We  love  not  the  ways  of  that  numerous  class  of  malcontents  who  are  per- 
petually finding  fault  with  their  vocation,  and  endeavoring  to  prove  them- 
selves the  most  miserable  dogs  in  existence.  If  they  really  think  so,  why 
under  the  sun  do  they  not  abandon  their  present  evil  ways  and  endeavor  to 
hit  upon  something  more  endurable  1  Nor  do  we  not  deem  these  grumblers 
more  plentiful  among  the  brethren  of  the  quill  than  in  other  professions,  sim- 
ply because  the  groanings  uttered  through  the  press  are  more  widely  circu- 

7* 


154  EDITOR    OF   THE   NEW   YORKER. 

lated  than  when  merely  breathed  to  the  night-air  of  some  unsympathizing 
friend  who  forgets  all  about  them  the  next  minute ;  but  we  do  think  the  whole 
business  is  in  most  ridiculously  bad  taste.  An  Apostle  teaches  us  of  "  groanings 
which  cannot  be  uttered"— it  would  be  a  great  relief  to  readers,  if  editorial 
groanings  were  of  this  sort.  Now,  we  pride  ourselves  rather  on  the  delights 
of  our  profession ;  and  we  rejoice  to  say,  that  we  find  them  neither  few  nor 
inconsiderable.  There  is  one  which  even  now  flitted  across  our  path,  which, 
to  tell  the  truth,  was  rather  above  the  average — in  fact,  so  good,  that  we  can- 
not afford  to  monopolize  it,  even  though  we  shall  be  constrained  to  allow  our 
reader  a  peep  behind  the  curtain.  So,  here  it  is : 

[SCENE.  Editorial  Sanctum — Editor  solus — i.  e.  immersed  in  thought  and 
newspapers,  with  a  journal  in  one  hand  and  busily  spoiling  white  paper  with 
the  other — only  two  particular  friends  talking  to  him  at  each  elbow.  Devil 
calls  for  'copy'  at  momentary  intervals.  Enter  a  butternut-colored  gentle- 
man, who  bows  most  emphatically.] 

Gent.  Are  you  the  editor  of  the  New  Yorker,  sir  1 

Editor.  The  same,  sir,  at  your  service. 

Gent.  Did  you  write  this,  sir  ? 

Editor.  Takes  his  scissored  extract  and  reads — c  So,  when  we  hear  the 
brazen  vender  of  quack  remedies  boldly  trumpeting  his  miraculous  cures,  or 
the  announcement  of  the  equally  impudent  experimenter  on  public  credulity 
(Goward)  who  announces,  that  he  'teaches  music  in  six  lessons,  and  half  a 
dozen  distinct  branches  of  science  in  as  many  weeks,'  we  may  be  grieved,  and 
even  indignant,  that  such  palpable  deceptions  of  the  simple  and  unwary  should 
not  be  discountenanced  and  exposed.' 

That  Teads  like  me,  sir.  I  do  not  remember  the  passage  ;  but  if  you  found 
it  in  the  editorial  columns  of  the  New  Yorker,  I  certainly  did  write  it. 

Gent.  It  was  in  No.  15.     "  The  March  of  Humbug." 

Editor.  Ah !  now  I  recollect  it — there  is  no  mistake  in  my  writing  that 
article. 

Gent .  Did  you  allude  to  me,  sir,  in  those  remarks  1 

Editor.  You  will  perceive  that  the  name  '  Goward'  has  been  introduced 
by  yourself — there  is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  my  paper. 

Gent.  Yes,  sir ;  but  I  wish  to  know  whether  you  intended  those  remarks  to 
apply  to  me. 

Editor.  'Well,  sir,  without  pretending  to  recollect  exactly  what  I  may  have 
been  thinking  of  while  writing  an  article  three  months  ago,  I  will  frankly  say, 
that  I  think  I  must  have  had  you  in  my  eye  while  penning  that  paragraph. 

Gent.  "Well,  sir,  do  you  know  that  such  remarks  are  grossly  unjust  and  im- 
pertinent to  me  ? 

Editor.  I  know  nothing  of  you,  sir,  but  from  the  testimony  of  friends  and 
your  own  advertisements  in  the  papers — and  these  combine  to  assure  ma 
that  you  are  a  quack. 


155 

Gent.  That  is  what  my  enemies  say,  sir ;  but  if  you  examine  my  certi- 
ficates, sir,  you  will  know  the  contrary. 

Editor.  I  am  open  to  conviction,  sir. 

Gent.  Well,  sir,  I  have  been  advertising  in  the  Traveller  for  some  time, 
and  have  paid  them  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  here  they  come  out  this  week 
and  abuse  me — so,  I  have  done  with  them  ;  and,  now,  if  you  will  say  you  will 
not  attack  me  in  this  fashion,  I  will  patronize  you  (holding  out  some  tempt- 
ing advertisements). 

Editor.  Well,  sir,  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  advertise  for  you ;  but  I  can 
give  no  pledge  as  to  the  course  I  shall  feel  bound  to  pursue. 

Gent.  Then,  I  suppose  you  will  continue  to  call  me  a  quack. 

Editor.  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  accustomed  to  attack  my  friends  and 
patrons ;  but  if  I  have  occasion  to  speak  of  you  at  all,  it  shall  be  in  such 
terms  as  my  best  judgment  shall  dictate. 

Gent.  Then,  I  am  to  understand  you  as  my  enemy. 

Editor.  Understand  me  as  you  please,  sir ;  I  shall  endeavor  to  treat  you 
and  all  men  with  fairness. 

Gent.  But  do  you  suppose  I  am  going  to  pay  money  to  those  who  ridicule 
me  and  hold  me  up  as  a  quack  1 

Editor.  You  will  pay  it  where  you  please,  sir — I  must  enjoy  my  opinions. 

Gent.  Well,  but  is  a  man  to  be  judged  by  what  his  enemies  say  of  him  1 
Every  man  has  his  enemies. 

Editor.  I  hope  not,  sir  ;  I  trust  I  have  not  an  enemy  in  the  world. 

Gent.  Yes,  you  have — I  'ra  your  enemy ! — and  the  enemy  of  every  one  who 
misrepresents  me.  I  can  get  no  justice  from  the  press,  except  among  the 
penny  dailies.  I  '11  start  a  paper  myself  before  a  year.  I  '11  show  that 
some  folks  can  edit  newspapers  as  well  as  others. 

Editor.  The  field  is  open,  sir, — go  ahead. 

[Exit  in  a  rage,  Rev.  J.  Goward,  A.M.,  Teacher 
(in  six  lessons)  of  everything.] 

Another  proof  of  the  happiness  of  the  early  days  of  our  hero's 
editorial  career  might  be  found  in  the  habit  he  then  had  of  writing 
verses.  It  will,  perhaps,  surprise  some  of  his  present  readers,  who 
know  him  only  as  one  of  the  most  practical  of  writers,  one  given 
to  politics,  sub-soil  plows,  and  other  subjects  supposed  to  be  unpo- 
etical,  to  learn  that  he  was  in  early  life  a  very  frequent,  and  by  no 
means  altogether  unsuccessful  poetizer.  Many  of  the  early  numbers 
of  the  New-Yorker  contain  a  poem  by  "  H.  G."  He  has  published, 
in  all,  about  thirty-five  poems,  of  which  the  New-Yorker  contains 
twenty ;  the  rest  may  be  found  in  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger, 
and  various  other  magazines,  annuals,  and  occasional  volumes.  I 


156     -  EDITOR    OF   THB   NEW    YORKER. 

have  seen  no  poem  of  his  which  does  not  contain  the  material  of 
poetry — thought,  feeling,  fancy;  but  in  few  of  them  was  the  poet 
enabled  to  give  his  thought,  feeling  and  fancy  complete  expression. 
A  specimen  or  two  of  his  poetry  it  would  be  an  unpardonable  omis- 
sion not  to  give,  in  a  volume  like  this,  particularly  as  his  poetic 
period  is  past. 

The  following  is  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  who  was  the  ideal 
hero  of  his  youthful  politics.  It  was  published  in  the  first  number 
of  the  New-Yorker : 

ON  THE  DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  WIRT, 

Rouse  not  the  muffled  drum, 
Wake  not  the  martial  trumpet's  mournful  sound 

Tor  him  whose  mighty  voice  in  death  is  dumb ; 
Who,  in  the  zenith  of  his  high  renown, 

To  the  grave  went  down. 

Invoke  no  cannon's  breath 
To  swell  the  requiem  o'er  his  ashes  poured — 
Silently  bear  him  to  the  house  of  death : — 
The  aching  hearts  by  whom  he  was  adored, 
He  won  not  with  the  sword. 

No !  let  affection's  tear 
Be  the  sole  tribute  to  his  memory  paid ; 
Earth  has  no  monument  so  justly  dear 
To  souls  like  his  in  purity  arrayed — 
Never  to  fade. 

I  loved  thee,  patriot  Chief! 
I  battled  proudly  'neath  thy  banner  pure  ; 

Mine  is  the  breast  of  woe — the  heart  of  grief, 
Which  suffer  on  unmindful  of  a  cure- 
Proud  to  endure. 

But  vain  the  voice  of  wail 
For  thee,  from  thia  dim  vale  of  sorrow  fled— 


157 


Earth  has  no  spell  whose  magic  shall  not  fail 
To  light  the  gloom  that  shrouds  thy  narrow  bed, 
Or  woo  thee  from  the  dead. 


Then  take  thy  long  repose 
Beneath  the  shelter  of  the  deep  green  sod : 

Death  but  a  brighter  halo  o'er  thee  throws — 
Thy  fame,  thy  soul  alike  have  spurned  the  clod— 
Best  thee  in  God. 

A  series  of  poems,  entitled  "  Historic  Pencilings,"  appear  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  New  Yorker,  over  the  initials  "  H.  G."  These 
were  the  poetized  reminiscences  of  his  boyish  historical  reading.  Of 
these  poems  the  following  is,  perhaps,  the  most  pleasing  and  char- 
acteristic : 

NERO'S  TOMB. 

"  When  Nero  perished  by  the  justest  doom, 

***** 
Some  hand  unseen  strewed  flowers  upon  his  grave." 

BTBON. 

The  tyrant  slept  in  death ; 
His  long  career  of  blood  had  ceased  forever, 

And  but  an  empire's  execrating  breath 
Remained  to  tell  of  crimes  exampled  never. 

Alone  remained  ?     Ah !  no ; 
Rome's  scathed  and  blackened  walls  retold  the  story 

Of  conflagrations  broad  and  baleful  glow. 
Such  was  the  halo  of  the  despot's  glory  1 

And  round  his  gilded  tomb 
Came  crowds  of  sufferers— but  not  to  weep — 

Not  theirs  the  wish  to  light  the  house  of  gloom 
With  sympathy.    No !     Curses  wild  and  deep 

His  only  requiem  made. 
But  soft !  see,  strewed  around  his  dreamless  bed 

The  trophies  bright  of  many  a  verdant  glade, 
The  living's  tribute  to  the  honored  dead. 


158  EDITOR    OP   THE   NEW   YORKER. 

What  mean  those  gentle  flowers  ? 
So  sweetly  smiling  in  the  face  of  wrath — 

Children  of  genial  suns  and  fostering  showers. 
Now  crushed  and  trampled  in  the  million's  path — 

What  do  they,  withering  here  ? 
Ah !  spurn  them  not  ?  they  tell  of  sorrow's  flow — 

There  has  been  one  to  shed  affection's  tear, 
And  'mid  a  nation's  joy,  to  feel  a  pang  of  woe ! 

No  1  scorn  them  not,  those  flowers, 
They  speak  too  deeply  to  each  feeling  heart — 

They  tell  that  Guilt  hath  still  its  holier  hours — 
That  none  may  e  'er  from  earth  unmourned  depart ; 

That  none  hath  all  effaced 
The  spell  of  Eden  o  'er  his  spirit  cast, 

The  heavenly  image  in  his  features  traced — 
Or  quenched  the  love  unchanging  to  the  last  I 

Another  of  the  '  Historic  Pencilings,'  was  on  the  *  Death  of  Per- 
icles.' This  was  its  last  stanza : — 

No !  let  the  brutal  conqueror 

Still  glut  his  soul  with  war, 
And  let  the  ignoble  million 
. ,    With  shouts  surround  his  car ; 
But  dearer  far  the  lasting  fame 

Which  twines  its  wreaths  with  peace — 
Give  me  the  tearless  memory 

Of  the  mighty  one  of  Greece. 

Only  one  of  his  poems  seems  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  ten- 
der passion.  It  is  dated  May  31st,  1834.  Who  this  bright  Vision 
was  to  whom  the  poem  was  addressed,  or  whether  it  was  ever  vis- 
ible to  any  but  the  poet's  eye,  has  not  transpired. 

FANTASIES. 

They  deem  me  cold,  the  thoughtless  and  light-hearted, 
In  that  I  worship  not  at  beauty's  shrine ; 


FANTASIES.  159 

They  deem  me  cold,  that  through  the  years  departed, 

I  ne'er  have  bowed  me  to  some  form  divine. 
They  deem  me  proud,  that,  where  the  world  hath  flattered, 

I  ne'er  have  knelt  to  languish  or  adore ; 
They  think  not  that  the  homage  idly  scattered 

Leaves  the  heart  bankrupt,  ere  its  spring  is  o'er. 

No !  in  my  soul  there  glows  but  one  bright  vision, 

And  o'er  my  heart  there  rules  but  one  fond  spell, 
Bright'ning  my  hours  of  sleep  with  dreams  Elysian 

Of  one  unseen,  yet  loved,  aye  cherished  well ; 
Unseen  ?    Ah !  no ;  her  presence  round  me  lingers, 

Chasing  each  wayward  thought  that  tempts  to  rove ; 
"Weaving  Affection's  web  with  fairy  fingers, 

And  waking  thoughts  of  purity  and  love. 

Star  of  my  heaven !  thy  beams  shall  guide  me  ever, 

Though  clouds  obscure,  and  thorns  bestrew  my  path ; 
As  sweeps  my  bark  adown  life's  arrowy  river 

Thy  angel  smile  shall  soothe  misfortune's  wrath  ; 
And  ah  !  should  Fate  ere  speed  her  deadliest  arrow, 

Should  vice  allure  to  plunge  in  her  dark  sea, 
Be  this  the  only  shield  my  soul  shall  borrow — 

One  glance  to  Heaven — one  burning  thought  of  thee ! 

I  ne'er  on  earth  may  gaze  on  those  bright  features, 

Nor  drink  the  light  of  that  soul-beaming  eye ; 
But  wander  on  'mid  earth's  unthinking  creatures, 

Unloved  in  life,  and  unlamented  die ; 
But  ne'er  shall  fade  the  spell  thou  weavest  o'er  me, 

Nor  fail  the  star  that  lights  my  lonely  way ; 
Still  shall  the  night's  fond  dreams  that  light  restore  me, 

Though  Fate  forbid  its  gentler  beams  by  day. 

I  have  not  dreamed  that  gold  or  gems  adorn  thee — 
That  Flatt'ry's  voice  may  vaunt  thy  matchless  form ; 

I  little  reck  that  worldlings  all  may  scorn  thee, 
Be  but  thy  SOUL  still  pure,  thy  feelings  warm ; 


160  EDITOR   OF  THE   NEW  YORKER. 

Be  thine  bright  Intellect's  unfading  treasures, 

And  Poesy's  more  deeply-hallowed  spell, 
And  Faith  the  zest  which  heightens  all  thy  pleasures, 

With  trusting  love— Maid  of  my  soul !  farewell ! 

One  more  poem  claims  place  here,  if  from  its  autobiographical 
character  alone.  Those  who  believe  there  is  such  a  thing  as  regen- 
eration, who  know  that  a  man  can  act  and  live  in  a  disinterested 
spirit,  will  not  read  this  poem  with  entire  incredulity.  It  appeared 
in  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger  for  August,  1840. 

THE   FADED   STARS. 

I  mind  the  time  when  Heaven's  high  dome 

Woke  in  my  soul  a  wondrous  thrill — 
When  every  leaf  in  Nature's  tome 

Bespoke  creations  marvels  still ; 
When  mountain  cliff  and  sweeping  glade, 

As  morn  unclosed  her  rosy  bars, 
Woke  joys  intense — but  naught  e'er  bade 

My  heart  leap  up,  like  you,  bright  stars  ! 

Calm  ministrants  to  God's  high  glory ! 

Pure  gems  around  His  burning  throne ! 
Mute  watchers  o'er  man's  strange,  sad  story 

Of  Crime  and  Woe  through  ages  gone  1 
'Twas  yours  the  mild  and  hallowing  spell 

That  lured  me  from  ignoble  gleams — 
Taught  me  where  sweeter  fountains  swell 

Than  ever  bless  the  worldling's  dreams. 

How  changed  was  life !  a  waste  no  more, 

Beset  by  Want,  and  Pain,  and  Wrong ; 
Earth  seemed  a  glad  and  fairy  shore, 

Yocal  with  Hope's  inspiring  song. 
But  ye,  bright  sentinels  of  Heaven ! 

Far  glories  of  Night's  radiant  sky ! 
Who,  as  ye  gemmed  the  brow  of  Even, 

Has  ever  deemed  Man  born  to  die  ? 
*  *  *  * 


SUBJECTS   OF   HIS   ESSAYS.  161 

'Tis  faded  now,  that  wondrous  grace 

That  once  on  Heaven's  forehead  shone ; 
I  read  no  more  in  Nature's  face 

A  soul  responsive  to  my  own. 
A  dimness  on  my  eye  and  spirit, 

Stern  time  has  cast  in  hurrying  by ; 
Few  joys  my  hardier  years  inherit, 

And  leaden  dullness  rules  the  sky. 

Yet  mourn  not  I — a  stern,  high  duty 

Now  nerves  my  arm  and  fires  my  brain ; 
Perish  the  dream  of  shapes  of  beauty, 

So  that  this  strife  be  not  in  vain ; 
To  war  on  Fraud  entrenched  with  Power — 

On  smooth  Pretence  and  specious  "Wrong — 
This  task  be  mine,  though  Fortune  lower; 

For  this  be  banished  sky  and  song. 

The  subjects  upon  which  the  editor  of  the  New  Yorker  used  to 
descant,  as  editor,  contrast  curiously  with  those  upon  which,  as 
poet,  he  aspired  to  sing.  Turning  over  the  well-printed  pages  of 
that  journal,  we  find  calm  and  rather  elaborate  essays  upon  '  The 
Interests  of  Labor,'  '  Our  Eelations  with  France,'  '  Speculation,' 
4  The  Science  of  Agriculture,'  *  Usury  Laws,'  '  The  Currency,'  '  Over- 
trading,'  '  Divorce  of  Bank  and  State,'  '  National  Conventions,'  '  In- 
ternational Copyright,'  '  Relief  of  the  Poor,'  4  The  Public  Lands,' 
1  Capital  Punishment,'  '  The  Slavery  Question,'  and  scores  of  others 
equally  unromantic.  There  are,  also,  election  returns  given  with 
great  minuteness,  and  numberless  paragraphs  recording  nomina- 
tions. The  New  Yorker  graduall}7  became  the  authority  in  the  de- 
partment of  political  statistics.  There  were  many  people  who  did 
not  consider  an  election  '  safe,'  or  '  lost,'  until  they  saw  the  figures 
in  the  New  Yorker.  And  the  New  Yorker  deserved  this  distinc- 
tion; for  there  never  lived  an  editor  more  scrupulous  upon  the 
point  of  literal  and  absolute  correctness  than  Horace  Greeley.  To 
quote  the  language  of  a  proof-reader — "  If  there  is  a  thing  that  will 
make  Horace  furious,  it  is  to  have  a  name  spelt  wrong,  or  a  mistake 


162  EDITOR   OF   THE   NEW   YORKER. 

in  election  returns."  In  fact,  he  was  morbid  on  the  subject,  till 
time  toughened  him  ;  time,  and  proof-readers. 

The  opinions  which  he  expressed  in  the  columns  of  the  New 
Yorker  are,  in  general,  those  to  which  he  still  adheres,  though  on  a 
few  subjects  he  used  language  which  he  would  not  now  use.  His 
opinions  on  those  subjects  have  rather  advanced  than  changed. 
For  example  :  he  is  now  opposed  to  the  punishment  of  death  in  all 
cases,  except  when,  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  the  immediate 
safety  of  the  community  demands  it.  In  June,  1836,  he  wrote : — 
"  And  now,  having  fully  expressed  our  conviction  that  the  punish- 
ment of  death  is  one  which  should  sometimes  be  inflicted,  we  may 
add,  that  we  would  have  it  resorted  to  as  unfrequently  as  possible. 
Nothing,  in  our  view,  but  cold-blooded,  premeditated,  nnpalliated 
murder,  can  fully  justify  it.  Let  this  continue  to  be  visited  with  the 
sternest  penalty." 

Another  example.  The  following  is  part  of  an  article  on  the 
Slavery  Question,  which  appeared  in  July,  1834.  It  differs  from 
his  present  writings  on  the  same  subject,  not  at  all  in  doctrine, 
though  very  much  in  tone.  Then,  he  thought  the  North  the  ag- 
gressor. Since  then,  we  have  had  Mexican  Wars,  Nebraska  bills, 
etc.,  and  he  now  writes  as  one  assailed. 

"  To  a  philosophical  observer,  the  existence  of  domestic  servitude  in  one 
portion  of  the  Union  while  it  is  forbidden  and  condemned  in  another,  would 
indeed  seem  to  afford  no  plausible  pretext  for  variance  or  alienation.  The 
Union  was  formed  with  a  perfect  knowledge,  on  the  one  hand,  that  slavery  ex- 
isted at  the  south,  and,  on  the  other,  that  it  was  utterly  disapproved  and  dis- 
countenanced at  the  north.  But  the  framers  of  the  constitution  saw  no  reason 
for  distrust  and  dissension  in  this  circumstance.  Wisely  avoiding  all  discuss- 
ion of  a  subject  so  delicate  and  exciting,  they  proceeded  to  the  formation  of 
'  a  more  perfect  union,'  which,  leaving  each  section  in  the  possession  of  its 
undoubted  right  of  regulating  its  own  internal  government  and  enjoying  its 
own  speculative  opinions,  provided  only  for  the  common  benefit  and  mutual 
well-being  of  the  whole.  And  why  should  not  this  arrangement  be  satisfac- 
tory and  perfect  ?  Why  should  not  even  the  existing  evils  of  one  section  be 
left  to  the  correction  of  its  own  wisdom  and  virtue,  when  pointed  out  by  the 
unerring  finger  of  experience  ? 

********* 

We  entertain  no  doubt  that  the  system  of  slavery  is  at  the  bottom  of  most 
of  the  evils  which  afflict  the  communities  of  the  south— that  it  has  occasioned 


HIS    OPINIONS   THEN.  163 

the  decline  of  Virginia,  of  Maryland,  of  Carolina.  We  see  it  even  retarding 
the  growth  of  the  new  State  of  Missouri,  and  causing  her  to  fall  far  behind 
her  sister  Indiana  in  improvement  and  population.  And  we  venture  to  assert, 
that  if  the  objections  to  slavery,  drawn  from  a  correct  and  enlightened  politi- 
cal economy,  were  once  fairly  placed  before  the  southern  public,  they  would 
need  no  other  inducements  to  impel  them  to  enter  upon  an  immediate  and 
effective  course  of  legislation,  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  extinction  of  the 
evil.  But,  right  or  wrong,  no  people  have  a  greater  disinclination  to  the  lec- 
tures or  even  the  advice  of  their  neighbors  ;  and  we  venture  to  predict,  that 
whoever  shall  bring  about  a  change  of  opinion  in  that  quarter,  must,  in  this 
case,  reverse  the  proverb  which  declares,  that '  a  prophet  hath  honor  except 
in  his  own  country.'  " 

******* 

After  extolling  the  Colonization  Society,  and  condemning  the  form- 
ation of  anti-slavery  societies  at  the  North,  as  irritating  and  useless, 
the  editor  proceeds : — "  We  hazard  the  assertion,  that  there  never 
existed  two  distinct  races — so  diverse  as  to  be  incapable  of  amalga- 
mation— inhabiting  the  same  district  of  country,  and  in  open  and 
friendly  contact  with  each  other,  that  maintained  a  perfect  equality 
of  political  and  social  condition.  *  *  *  It  remains  to  be  proved, 
that  the  history  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  afford  a  direct  con- 
tradiction to  all  former  experience.  *  *  *  ^e  cannot  close 
without  reiterating  the  expression  of  our  firm  conviction,  that  if 
the  African  race  are  ever  to  be  raised  to  a  degree  of  comparative 
happiness,  intelligence,  and  freedom,  it  must  be  in  some  other  region 
than  that  which  has  been  the  theatre  of  their  servitude  and  degra- 
dation. They  must  '  come  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  and  out  of 
the  house  of  bondage ;'  even  though  they  should  be  forced  to  cross 
the  sea  in  their  pilgrimage  and  wander  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness." 

Again.  In  1835,  he  had  not  arrived  at  the  Maine  Law,  but  was 
feeling  his  way  towards  it.  He  wrote  thus : 

"  Were  we  called  upon  to  indicate  simply  the  course  which  should  be  pursued 
for  the  eradication  of  this  crying  evil,  our  compliance  would  be  a  far  easier 
matter.  We  should  say,  unhesitatingly,  that  the  .vending  of  alcohol,  or  of 
liquors  of  which  alcohol  forms  a  leading  component,  should  be  regulated  by 
the  laws  which  govern  the  sale  of  other  insidious,  yet  deadly,  poisons.  It 
should  be  kept  for  sale  only  by  druggists,  and  dealt  out  in  small  portions, 
and  with  like  regard  to  the  character  and  ostensible  purpose  of  the  applicant, 


164  EDITOR    OF   THE   NEW    YORKER. 

as  in  the  case  of  its  counterpart.  *  *  *  *  But  we  must  not  forget,  that 
we  are  to  determine  simply  what  may  be  done  by  the  friends  of  temperance 
for  the  advancement  of  the  noble  cause  in  which  they  are  engaged,  rather 
than  what  the  more  ardent  of  them  (with  whom  we  are  proud  to  rank  our- 
selves) would  desire  to  see  accomplished.  We  are  to  look  at  things  as  they 
are;  and,  in  that  view,  all  attempts  to  interdict  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
in  our  hotels,  our  country  stores,  and  our  steam-boats,  in  the  present  state 
of  public  opinion,  must  be  hopelessly,  ridiculously  futile.  *  *  *  *  The 
only  available  provision  bearing  on  this  branch  of  the  traffic,  which  could  be 
urged  with  the  least  prospect  of  success,  is  the  imposition  of  a  real  license- 
tax — say  from  $100  to  $1000  per  annum — which  would  have  the  effect  of 
diminishing  the  evil  by  rendering  less  frequent  and  less  universal  the  temp- 
tations which  lead  to  it.  But  even  that,  we  apprehend,  would  meet  with 
strenuous  opposition  from  so  large  and  influential  a  portion  of  the  community, 
as  to  render  its  adoption  and  efficiency  extremely  doubtful." 

The  most  bold  and  stirring  of  his  articles  in  the  New  Yorker, 
was  one  on  the  "  Tyranny  of  Opinion,"  which  was  suggested  by  the 
extraordinary  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Fourth  of  July  was  cel- 
ebrated in  1837.  A  part  of  this  article  is  the  only  specimen  of  the 
young  editor's  performance,  which,  as  a  specimen,  can  find  place  in 
this  chapter.  The  sentiments  which  it  avows,  the  country  h-as  not 
yet  caught  up  with ;  nor  will  it,  for  many  a  year  after  the  hand 
that  wrote  them  is  dust.  After  an  allusion  to  the  celebration,  the 
article  proceeds: 

"  The  great  pervading  evil  of  our  social  condition  is  the  worship  and  the 
bigotry  of  Opinion.  While  the  theory  of  our  political  institutions  asserts  or 
implies  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  human  mind — the  right  not  only  of  free 
thought  and  discussion,  but  of  the  most  unrestrained  action  thereon  within 
the  wide  boundaries  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  yet  the  practical  com- 
mentary upon  this  noble  text  is  as  discordant  as  imagination  can  conceive. 
Beneath  the  thin  veil  of  a  democracy  more  free  than  that  of  Athens  in  her 
glory,  we  cloak  a  despotism  more  pernicious  and  revolting  than  that  of 
Turkey  or  China.  It  is  the  despotism  of  Opinion.  Whoever  ventures  to 
propound  opinions  strikingly  at  variance  with  those  of  the  majority,  must  be 
content  to  brave  obloquy,  contempt  and  persecution.  If  political,  they  ex- 
clude him  from  public  employment  and  trust ;  if  religious,  from  social  inter- 
course and  general  regard,  if  not  from  absolute  rights.  However  moderately 
heretical  in  his  political  views,  he  cannot  be  a  justice  of  the  peace,  an  officer 
of  the  customs,  or  a  lamp-lighter ;  while,  if  he  be  positively  and  frankly 
sceptical  in  his  theology,  grave  judges  pronounce  him  incompetent  to  give 


HIS   MARRIAGE.  165 

testimony  in  courts  of  justice,  though  his  character  for  veracity  be  indubitable. 
That  is  but  a  narrow  view  of  the  subject  which  ascribes-  all  this  injustice  to 
the  errors  of  parties  or  individuals  ;  it  flows  naturally  from  the  vice  of  the 
age  and  country — the  tyranny  of  Opinion.  It  can  never  be  wholly  rectified 
until  the  whole  community  shall  be  brought  to  feel  and  acknowledge,  that  the 
only  security  for  public  liberty  is  to  be  found  in  the  absolute  and  unqualified 
freedom  of  thought  and  expression,  confining  penal  consequences  to  acts  only 
which  are  detrimental  to  the  welfare  of  society. 

"  The  philosophical  observer  from  abroad  may  well  be  astounded  by  the 
gross  inconsistencies  which  are  presented  by  the  professions  and  the  conduct 
of  our  people.  Thousands  will  flock  together  to  drink  in  the  musical  periods 
of  some  popular  disclaimer  on  the  inalienable  rights  of  man,  the  inviolability 
of  the  immunities  granted  us  by  the  Constitution  and  Laws,  and  the  invariable 
reverence  of  freemen  for  the  majesty  of  law.  They  go  away  delighted  with 
our  institutions,  the  orator  and  themselves.  The  next  day  they  may  be  en- 
gaged in  'lynching'  some  unlucky  individual  who  has  fallen  under  their 
sovereign  displeasure,  breaking  up  a  public  meeting  of  an  obnoxious  cast,  or 
tarring  and  feathering  some  unfortunate  lecturer  or  propagandist,  whose 
views  do  not  square  with  their  own,  but  who  has  precisely  the  same  right  to 
enjoy  and  propagate  his  opinions,  however  erroneous,  as  though  he  inculcated 
nothing  but  what  every  one  knows  and  acknowledges  already.  The  shame- 
lessness  of  this  incongruity  is  sickening  ;  but  it  is  not  confined  to  this  glaring 
exhibition.  The  sheriff,  town-clerk,  or  constable,  who  finds  the  political 
majority  in  his  district  changed,  either  by  immigration  or  the  course  of 
events,  must  be  content  to  change  too,  or  be  hurled  from  his  station.  Yet 
what  necessary  connection  is  there  between  his  politics  and  his  office  ?  Why 
might  it  not  as  properly  be  insisted  that  a  town-oificer  should  be  six  feet 
high,  or  have  red  hair,  if  the  majority  were  so  distinguished,  as  that  he 
should  think  with  them  respecting  the  men  in  high  places  and  the  measures 
projected  or  opposed  by  them  1  And  how  does  the  proscription  of  a  man  in 
any  way  for  obnoxious  opinions  differ  from  the  most  glaring  tyranny  V 

In  the  New  Yorker  of  July  16th,  1836,  may  be  seen,  at  the 
head  of  a  long  list  of  recent  marriages,  the  following  interesting  an- 
nouncement : 

"In  Immanuel  church,  Warrentown,  North  Carolina,  on  Tues- 
day morning,  5th  inst,  by  Rev.  William  Norwood,  Mr.  Horace 
Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  Yorker,  to  Miss  Y.  Cheney,  of  War- 
rentown, formerly  of  this  city." 

The  lady  was  by  profession  a  teacher,  and  to  use  the  emphatic 
language  of  one  of  her  friends,  '  crazy  for  knowledge.'  The  ac- 
quaintance had  been  formed  at  the  Graham  House,  and  was  con- 


166  EDITOR   OF   THE   NEW  YORKER. 

tinned  by  correspondence  after  Miss  Cheney,  in  the  pursuit  of  her 
vocation,  had  removed  to  North  Carolina.  Thither  the  lover  hied  ; 
the  two  became  one,  and  returned  together  to  New  York.  They 
•were  married,  as  he  said  he  would  be,  by  the  Episcopal  form. 
Sumptuous  was  the  attire  of  the  bridegroom ;  a  suit  of  fine  black 
broadcloth,  and  u  on  this  occasion  only,"  a  pair  of  silk  stockings ! 
It  appears  that  silk  stockings  and  matrimony  were,  in  his  mind,  as- 
sociated ideas,  as  rings  and  matrimony,  orange  blossoms  and  matri- 
mony, are  in  the  minds  of  people  in  general.  Accordingly,  he 
bought  a  pair  of  silk  stockings ;  but  trying  on  his  wedding  suit  pre- 
vious to  his  departure  for  the  south,  he  found,  to  his  dismay,  that 
the  stockings  were  completely  hidden  by  the  affluent  terminations 
of  another  garment.  The  question  now  at  once  occurred  to  his  log- 
ical mind,  '  What  is  the  use  of  having  silk  stockings,  if  nobody  can 
see  that  you  have  them  ?'  He  laid  the  case,  it  is  said,  before  his 
tailor,  who,  knowing  his  customer,  immediately  removed  the  diffi- 
culty by  cutting  away  a  crescent  of  cloth  from  the  front  of  the 
aforesaid  terminations,  which  rendered  the  silk  stockings  obvious 
to  the  most  casual  observer.  Such  is  the  story.  And  I  regret 
that  other  stories,  and  true  ones,  highly  honorable  to  his  head 
and  heart,  delicacy  forbids  the  telling  of  in  this  place. 

The  editor,  of  course,  turned  his  wedding  tour  to  account  in  the 
way  of  his  profession.  On  his  journey  southward,  Horace  Gree- 
ley  first  saw  "Washington,  and  was  impressed  favorably  by  the 
houses  of  Congress,  then  in  session.  He  wrote  admiringly  of  the 
Senate  : — "  That  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  unsurpassed  in 
intellectual  greatness  by  any  body  of  fifty  men  ever  convened,  is 
a  trite  observation.  A  phrenologist  would  fancy  a  strong  con- 
firmation of  his  doctrines  in  the  very  appearance  of  the  Senate ; 
a  physiognomist  would  find  it.  The  most  striking  person  on  the 
floor  is  Mr.  Clay,  who  is  incessantly  in  motion,  and  whose  spare, 
erect  form  betrays  an  easy  dignity  approaching  to  majesty,  and  a 
perfect  gracefulness,  such  as  I  have  never  seen  equaled.  His  coun- 
tenance is  intelligent  and  indicative  of  character;  but  a  glance  at 
his  figure  while  his  face  was  completely  averted,  would  give  assur- 
ance that  he  was  no  common  man.  Mr.  Calhoun  is  one  of  the 
plainest  men  and  certainly  the  dryest,  hardest  speaker  I  ever 
listened  to.  The  flow  of  his  ideas  reminded  me  of  a  barrel  filled 


PECUNIARY   DIFFICULTIES.  167 

with  pebbles,  each  of  which  must  find  great  difficulty  in  escaping 
from  the  very  solidity  and  number  of  those  pressing  upon  it  and 
impeding  its  natural  motion.  Mr.  Calhoun,  though  far  from  being 
a  handsome,  is  still  a  very  remarkable  personage  ;  but  Mr.  Benton 
has  the  least  intellectual  countenance  I  ever  saw  on  a  senator.  Mr. 
Webster  was  not  in  his  place."  *  *  *  *  "The  best 
speech  was  that  of  Mr.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky.  That  man  is  not 
appreciated  so  highly  as  he  should  and  must  be.  He  has  a 
rough  readiness,  a  sterling  good  sense,  a  republican  manner  and 
feeling,  and  a  vein  of  biting,  though  homely  satire,  which  will 
yet  raise  him  to  distinction  in  the  National  Councils." 

"Were  Greeley  and  Co.  making  their  fortune  meanwhile  ?  Far 
from  it.  To  edit  a  paper  well  is  one  thing  ;  to  make  it  pay  as  a 
business  is  another.  The  New  Yorker  had  soon  become  a  famous, 
an  admired,  and  an  influential  paper.  Subscriptions  poured  in ;  the 
establishment  looked  prosperous ;  but  it  was  not.  The  sorry  tale 
of  its  career  as  a  business  is  very  fully  and  forcibly  told  in  the  vari- 
ous addresses  to,  and  chats  with,  Our  Patrons,  which  appear  in  the 
volumes  of  1837,  that  'year  of  ruin,'  and  of  the  years  of  slow  re- 
covery from  ruin  which  followed.  In  October,  1837,  the  editor 
thus  stated  his  melancholy  case  : 

"  Ours  is  a  plain  story ;  and  it  shall  be  plainly  told.  The  New  Yorker  was 
established  with  very  moderate  expectations  of  pecuniary  advantage,  but 
with  strong  hopes  that  its  location  at  the  head-quarters  of  intelligence  for  the 
continent,  and  its  cheapness,  would  insure  it,  if  well  conducted,  such  a  patron- 
age as  would  be  ultimately  adequate,  at  least,  to  the  bare  expenses  of  its  pub- 
lication. Starting  with  scarce  a  shadow  of  patronage,  it  had  four  thousand 
five  hundred  subscribers  at  the  close  of  the  first  year,  obtained  at  an  outlay  of 
three  thousand  dollars  beyond  the  income  in  that  period.  This  did  not  mate- 
rially disappoint  the  publishers'  expectations.  Another  year  passed,  and  their 
subscription  increased  to  seven  thousand,  with  a  further  outlay,  beyond  all  re- 
ceipts, of  two  thousand  dollars.  A  third  year  was  commenced  with  two  edi- 
tions— folio  and  quarto — of  our  journal ;  and  at  its  close,  their  conjoint  sub- 
scriptions amounted  to  near  nine  thousand  five  hundred  ;  yet  our  receipts  had 
again  fallen  two  thousand  dollars  behind  our  absolutely  necessary  expendi- 
tures. Such  was  our  situation  at  the  commencement  of  this  year  of  ruin  ; 
and  we  found  ourselves  wholly  unable  to  continue  our  former  reliance  on  the 
honor  and  ultimate  good  faith  of  our  backward  subscribers.  Two  thousand  fivo 
hundred  of  them  were  stricken  from  our  list,  and  every  possible  retrenchment-  of 


168  EDITOR   OF   THE   NEW   YORKER. 

our  expenditures  effected.  With  the  exercise  of  the  most  parsimonious  frugal- 
ity,  and  aided  by  the  extreme  kindness  and  generous  confidence  of  our  friends, 
we  have  barely  and  with  great  difficulty  kept  our  bark  afloat.  For  the  future,  we 
have  no  resource  but  in  the  justice  and  generosity  of  our  patrons.  Our  humble 
portion  of  this  world's  goods  has  long  since  been  swallowed  up  in  the  all-devour- 
ing vortex ;  both  of  the  Editor's  original  associates  in  the  undertaking  have 
abandoned  it  with  loss,  and  those  who  now  fill  their  places  have  invested  to  the 
full  amount  of  their  ability.  Not  a  farthing  has  been  drawn  from  the  concern 
by  any  one  save  for  services  rendered ;  and  the  allowance  to  the  proprietors 
having  charge  respectively  of  the  editorial  and  publishing  departments  has 
been  far  less  than  their  services  would  have  commanded  elsewhere.  The  last  six 
months  have  been  more  disastrous  than  any  which  preceded  them,  as  we  have 
continued  to  fall  behind  our  expenses  without  a  corresponding  increase  of  pat- 
ronage. A  large  amount  is  indeed  due  us  ;  but  we  find  its  collection  almost 
impossible,  except  in  inconsiderable  portions  and  at  a  ruinous  expense.  All 
appeals  to  the  honesty  and  good  faith  of  the  delinquents  seem  utterly  fruit- 
less. As  a  last  resource,  therefore,  and  one  besides  which  we  have  no  alterna- 
tive, we  hereby  announce,  that  from  and  after  this  date,  the  price  of  the  New 
Yorker  will  be  three  dollars  per  annum  for  the  folio,  and  four  dollars  for  the 
quarto  edition. 

"Friends  of  the  New  Yorker  !  Patrons  !  we  appeal  to  you,  not  for  charity, 
but  for  justice.  Whoever  among  you  is  in  our  debt,  no  matter  how  small  the 
sum,  is  guilty  of  a  moral  wrong  in  withholding  the  payment.  We  bitterly 
need  it — we  have  a  right  to  expect  it.  Six  years  of  happiness  could  not  atone 
for  the  horrors  which  blighted  hopes,  agonizing  embarrassments,  and  gloomy 
apprehensions — all  arising  in  great  measure  from  your  neglect — have  con- 
spired to  heap  upon  us  during  the  last  six  months.  We  have  borne  all  in  si- 
lence :  we  now  tell  you  we  must  have  our  pay.  Our  obligations  for  the  next 
two  months  are  alarmingly  heavy,  and  they  must  be  satisfied,  at  whatever  sac- 
rifice. We  shall  cheerfully  give  up  whatever  may  remain  to  us  of  property, 
and  mortgage  years  of  future  exertion,  sooner  than  incur  a  shadow  of  dishonor, 
by  subjecting  those  who  have  credited  us  to  loss  or  inconvenience.  We  must 
pay ;  and  for  the  means  of  doing  it  we  appeal  most  earnestly  to  you.  It  is 
possible  that  we  might  still  further  abuse  the  kind  solicitude  of  our  friends ; 
but  the  thought  is  agony.  We  should  be  driven  to  what  is  but  a  more  delicate 
mode  of  beggary,  when  justice  from  those  who  withhold  the  hard  earnings  of 
our  unceasing  toil  would  place  us  above  the  revolting  necessity !  At  any  rate, 
we  will  not  submit  to  the  humiliation  without  an  effort. 

"  We  have  struggled  until  we  can  no  longer  doubt  that,  with  the  present 
currency — and  there  seems  little  hope  of  an  immediate  improvement — we  can- 
not live  at  our  former  prices.  The  suppression  of  small  notes  was  a  blow  to 
cheap  city  papers,  from  which  there  is  no  hope  of  recovery.  With  a  currency 
including  notes  of  two  and  three  dollars,  one  half  our  receipts  would  come  to 


DIFFICULTIES.  169 

us  directly  from  the  subscribers  ;  without  such  notes,  we  must  submit  to  an 
agent's  charge  on  nearly  every  collection.  Besides,  the  notes  from  the  South 
Western  States  are  now  at  from  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent,  discount ;  and  have 
been  more  :  those  from  the  West  range  from  six  to  twenty.  All  notes  beyond 
the  Delaware  River  range  from  twice  to  ten  times  the  discount  charged  upon 
them  when  we  started  the  New  Yorker.  We  cannot  afford  to  depend  exclu- 
sively upon  the  patronage  to  be  obtained  in  our  immediate  neighborhood  ;  we 
cannot  retain  distant  patronage  without  receiving  the  money  in  which  alone 
our  subscribers  can  pay.  But  one  course,  then,  is  left  us — to  tax  our  valuable 
patronage  with  the  delinquences  of  the  worse  than  worthless — the  paying  for 
the  non-paying,  and  those  who  send  us  par-money,  with  the  evils  of  our  pres- 
ent depraved  and  depreciated  currency." 

Two  years  after,  there  appeared  another  chapter  of  pecuniary  his- 
tory, written  in  a  more  hopeful  strain.  A  short  extract  will  com- 
plete the  reader's  knowledge  of  the  subject : 

"  Since  the  close  of  the  year  of  ruin  (1837),  we  have  pursued  the  even  tenor 
of  our  way  with  such  fortune  as  was  vouchsafed  us ;  and,  if  never  elated  with 
any  signal  evidence  of  popular  favor,  we  have  not  since  been  doomed  to  gaze 
fixedly  for  months  into  the  yawning  abyss  of  Ruin,  and  feel  a  moral  certainty 
that,  however  averted  for  a  time,  that  must  be  our  goal  at  last.  On  the  con- 
trary, our  affairs  have  slowly  but  steadily  improved  for  some  time  past,  and 
we  now  hope  that  a  few  months  more  will  place  us  beyond  the  reach  of  pecu- 
niary embarrassments,  and  enable  us  to  add  new  attractions  to  our  journal. 

"  And  this  word  '  attraction'  brings  us  to  the  confession  that  the  success  of 
our  enterprise,  if  success  there  has  been,  has  not  been  at  all  of  a  pecuniary 
cast  thus  far.  Probably  we  lack  the  essential  elements  of  that  very  desirable 
kind  of  success.  There  have  been  errors,  mismanagement  and  losses  in  the 
conduct  of  our  business.  We  mean  that  we  lack,  or  do  not  take  kindly  to,  the 
arts  which  contribute  to  a  newspaper  sensation.  When  our  journal  first  ap- 
peared, a  hundred  copies  marked  the  extent  to  which  the  public  curiosity 
claimed  its  perusal.  Others  establish  new  papers,  (the  New  World  and  Brother 
Jonathan  Mr.  Greeley  might  have  instanced,)  even  without  literary  reputa- 
tion, as  we  were,  and  five  or  ten  thousand  copies  are  taken  at  once — just  to 
see  what  the  new  thing  is.  And  thence  they  career  onward  on  the  crest  of  a 
towering  wave. 

t(  Since  the  New  Yorker  was  first  issued,  seven  copartners  in  its  publication 
have  successively  withdrawn  from  the  concern,  generally,  we  regret  to  say, 
without  having  improved  their  fortunes  by  the  connection,  and  most  of  them 
with  the  conviction  that  the  work,  however  valuable,  was  not  calculated  to 
prove  lucrative  to  its  proprietors.  '  You  don't  humbug  enough,'  has  been 
the  complaint  of  more  than  one  of  our  retiring  associates;  'you  ought  to 

8 


170  EDITOR   OF   THE   NEW   YORKER. 

make  more  noise,  and  vaunt  your  own  merits.  The  world  will  never  believe 
you  print  a  good  paper  unless  you  tell  them  so.'  Our  course  has  not  been 
changed  by  these  representations.  We  have  endeavored  in  all  things  to 
maintain  our  self-respect  and  deserve  the  good  opinion  of  others ;  if  we  have  not 
succeeded  in  the  latter  particular,  the  failure  is  much  to  be  regretted,  but  hardly 
to  be  amended  by  pursuing  the  vaporous  course  indicated.  If  our  journal  be  a 
good  one,  those  who  read  it  will  be  very  apt  to  discover  the  fact ;  if  it  be  not, 
our  assertion  of  its  excellence,  however  positive  and  frequent,  would  scarcely 
outweigh  the  weekly  evidence  still  more  abundantly  and  convincingly  fur- 
nished. "We  are  aware  that  this  view  of  the  case  is  controvered  by  practical 
results  in  some  cases  ;  but  we  are  content  with  the  old  course,  and  have  never 
envied  the  success  which  Merit  or  Pretence  may  attain  by  acting  as  its  own 
trumpeter." 

The  New  Yorker  never,  during  the  seven  years  of  its  existence, 
became  profitable ;  and  its  editor,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
time,  derived  even  his  means  of  subsistence  either  from  the  business 
of  job  printing  or  from  other  sources,  which  will  be  alluded  to  in  a 
moment.  The  causes  of  the  New  Yorker's  signal  failure  as  a  busi- 
ness seem  to  have  been  these : 

1.  It  was  a  very  good  paper,  suited  only  to  the  more  intelligent 
class  of  the  community,  which,  in  all  times  and  countries,  is  a  small 
class.     "  We  have  a  pride,"  said  the  editor  once,  and  truly,  "  in  be- 
lieving that  we  might,  at  any  time,  render  our  journal  more  attrac- 
tive to  the  million  by  rendering  it  less  deserving ;  and  that  by  merely 
considering  what  would  be  sought  after  and  read  with  avidity,  with- 
out regard  to  its  moral  or  its  merit,  we  might  easily  become  popu- 
lar at  the  mere  expense  of  our  own  self-approval." 

2.  It  seldom  praised,  never  puffed,  itself.    The  editor,  however, 
seems  to  have  thought,  that  he  might  have  done  both  with  pro- 
priety.    Or  was  he  speaking  in  pure  irony,  when  he  gave  the  Mirror 
this  '  first-rate  notice.'     "  There  is  one  excellent  quality,"  said  he, 
"which  has  always  been  a  characteristic  of  the  Mirror — the  virtue 
of  self-appreciation.    "We  call  it  a  virtue,  and  it  is  not  merely  one 
in  itself,  but  the  parent  of  many  others.     As  regards  our  vocation, 
it  is  alike  necessary  and  just.    The  world  should  be  made  to  under- 
stand, that  the  aggregate  of  talent,  acquirement,  tact,  industry,  and 
general  intelligence  which  is  required  to  sustain  creditably  the  char- 
acter of  a  public  journal,  might,  if  judiciously  parcelled  out,  form 
the  stamina  of,  at  least,  one  professor  of  languages,  two  brazen  lee- 


171 

turers  on  science,  ethics,  or  phrenology,  and  three  average  congress- 
ional or  other  demagogues.  "Why,  then,  should  starvation  wave 
his  skeleton  sceptre  in  terrorem  over  such  a  congregation  of  avail- 
able excellences." 

3.  The  leading  spirit  of  the  New  Yorker  had  a  singular,  a  consti- 
tutional, an  incurable  inability  to  conduct  business.     His  character 
is  the  exact  opposite  of  that '  hard  man '  in  the  gospel,  who  reaped 
where  he  had  not  sown.     He  was  too  amiable,  too  confiding,  too 
absent,  and  too  l  easy,'  for  a  business  man.     If  a  boy  stole  his  let- 
ters from  the  post-office,  he  would  admonish  him,  and  either  let  him 
go  or  try  him  again.    If  a  writer  in  extremity  offered  to  do  certain 
paragraphs  for  three  dollars  a  week,  he  would  say,  "  No,  that 's  too 
little ;  I  '11  give  you  five,  till  you  can  get  something  better."     On 
one  occasion,  he  went  to  the  post-office  himself,  and  receiving  a 
large  number  of  letters,  put  them,  it  is  said,  into  the  pockets  of 
his  overcoat.     On  reaching  the  office,  he  hung  the  overcoat  on  its 
accustomed  peg,  and  was  soon  lost  in  the  composition  of  an  article. 
It  was  the  last  of  the  chilly  days  of  spring,  and  he  thought  no  more 
either  of  his  overcoat  or  its  pockets,  till  the  autumn.     Letters  kept 
coming  in  complaining  of  the  non-receipt  of  papers  which  had  been 
ordered  and  paid  for ;  and  the  office  was  sorely  perplexed.     On  the 
first  cool  day  in  October,  when  the  editor  was  shaking  a  summer's 
dirt  from  his  overcoat,  the  missing  letters  were  found,  and  the  mys- 
tery was  explained.    Another  story  gives  us  a  peep  into  the  office 
of  the  New  Yorker.     A  gentleman  called,  one  day,  and  asked  to 
see  the  editor.     "  I  am  the  editor,"  said  a  little  coxcomb  who  was 
temporarily  in  charge  of  the  paper.     "  You  are  not  the  person  I 
want  to  see,"  said  the  gentleman.     "Oh!"  said  the  puppy,  "you 
wish  to  see  the  Printer.    He 's  not  in  town."    The  men  in  the  com- 
posing-room chanced  to  overhear  this  colloquy,  and  thereafter,  our 
hero  was  called  by  the  nickname  of  '  The  Printer,'  and  by  that 
alone,  whether  he  was  present  or  absent.    It  was  "  Printer,  how 
will  you  have  this  set,"  or  "  Printer,  we  're  waiting  for  copy."    All 
this  was  very  pleasant  and  amiable ;  but,  businesses  which  pay  are 
never  carried  on  in  that  style.    It  is  a  pity,  but  a  fact,  that  busi- 
nesses which  pay,  are  generally  conducted  in  a  manner  which  is 
exceedingly  disagreeable  to  those  who  assist  in  them. 

4.  The  Year  of  Ruin. 


172  EDITOR   OF   THE   NEW  YORKER. 

5.  The  '  cash  principle,'  the  only  safe  one,  had  not  been  yet  ap- 
plied to  the  newspaper  business.  The  New  Yorker  lost,  on  an  aver- 
age, 1,200  dollars  a  year  by  the  removal  of  subscribers  to  parts 
unknown,  who  left  without  paying  for  their  paper,  or  notifying  the 
office  of  their  departure. 

Of  the  unnumbered  pangs  that  mortals  know,  pecuniary  anxiety 
is  to  a  sensitive  and  honest  young  heart  the  bitterest.  To  live  up- 
on the  edge  of  a  gulf  that  yawns  hideously  and  always  at  our  feet, 
to  feel  the  ground  giving  way  under  the  house  that  holds  our  hap- 
piness, to  walk  in  the  pathway  of  avalanches,  to  dwell  under  a 
volcano  rumbling  prophetically  of  a  coming  eruption,  is  not  pleas- 
ant. But  welcome  yawning  abyss,  welcome  earthquake,  avalanche, 
volcano !  They  can  crush,  and  burn,  and  swallow  a  man,  but  not 
degrade  him.  The  terrors  they  inspire  are  not  to  be  compared 
with  the  deadly  and  withering  FEAR  that  crouches  sullenly  in  the 
soul  of  that  honest  man  who  owes  much  money  to  many  people, 
and  cannot  think  how  or  when  he  can  pay  it.  That  alone  has 
power  to  take  from  life  all  its  charm,  and  from  duty  all  its  interest. 
For  other  sorrows  there  is  a  balm.  That  is  an  evil  unmingled, 
while  it  lasts ;  and  the  light  which  it  throws  upon  the  history  of 
mankind  and  the  secret  of  man's  struggle  with  fate,  is  purchased 
at  a  price  fully  commensurate  with  the  value  of  that  light. 

The  editor  of  the  New  Yorker  suffered  all  that  a  man  could  suf- 
fer from  this  dread  cause.  In  private  letters  he  alludes,  but  only 
alludes,  to  his  anguish  at  this  period.  "Through  most  of  the  time," 
he  wrote  years  afterwards,  "  I  was  very  poor,  and  for  four  years  re- 
ally bankrupt ;  though  always  paying  my  notes  and  keeping  nay 
word,  but  living  as  poorly  as  possible."  And  again :  "  My  embar- 
rassments were  sometimes  dreadful ;  not  that  I  feared  destitution, 
but  the  fear  of  involving  my  friends  in  my  misfortunes  was  very 
bitter."  He  came  one  afternoon  into  the  house  of  a  friend,  and 
handing  her  a  copy  of  his  paper,  said  :  "  There,  Mrs.  S.,  that  is  the 
last  number  of  the  New  Yorker  you  will  ever  see.  I  can  secure 
my  friends  against  loss  if  I  stop  now,  and  I  '11  not  risk  their  money 
by  holding  on  any  longer."  He  went  over  that  evening  to  Mr. 
Gregory,  to  make  known  to  him  his  determination  ;  but  that  con- 
stant and  invincible  friend  would  not  listen  to  it.  He  insisted  on 
his  continuing  the  struggle,  and  offered  his  assistance  with  such 


PARK  BENJAMIN. HENRY  J.  RAYMOND.         173 

frank  and  earnest  cordiality,  that  our  hero's  scruples  were  at 
length  removed,  and  he  came  home  elate,  and  resolved  to  battle 
another  year  with  delinquent  subscribers  and  a  depreciated  currency. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  New  Yorker,  Mr.  Greeley  had  lit- 
tle regular  assistance  in  editing  the  paper.  In  1839,  Mr.  Park  Ben- 
jamin contributed  much  to  the  interest  of  its  columns  by  his  lively 
and  humorous  critiques ;  but  his  connection  with  the  paper  was  not 
of  long  duration.  It  was  long  enough,  however,  to  make  him  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  of  his  associate.  On  retiring,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1839,  he  wrote  :  "  Grateful  to  my  feelings  has  been  my  inter- 
course with  the  readers  of  the  New  Yorker  and  with  its  principal 
editor  and  proprietor.  By  the  former  I  hope  my  humble  efforts 
will  not  be  unremembered ;  by  the  latter  I  am  happy  to  believe 
that  the  sincere  friendship  which  I  entertain  for  him  is  reciproca- 
ted. I  still  insist  upon  my  editorial  right  so  far  as  to  say  in  oppo- 
sition to  any  veto  which  my  coadjutor  may  interpose,  that  I  can- 
not leave  the  association  which  has  been  so  agreeable  to  me  with- 
out paying  to  sterling  worth,  unbending  integrity,  high  moral  prin- 
ciple and  ready  kindness,  their  just  due.  These  qualities  exist  in 
the  character  of  the  man  with  whom  now  I  part ;  and  by  all,  to 
whom  such  qualities  appear  admirable,  must  such  a  character  be 
esteemed.  His  talents,  his  industry,  require  no  commendation  from 
me  ;  the  readers  of  this  journal  know  them  too  well ;  the  public  is 
sufficiently  aware  of  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  exerted. 
What  I  have  said  has  flowed  from  my  heart,  tributary  rather  to  its 
own  emotions  than  to  the  subject  which  has  called  them  forth; 
his  plain  good  name  is  his  best  eulogy." 

A  few  months  later,  Mr.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  a  recent  graduate 
of  Burlington  College,  Vermont,  came  to  the  city  to  seek  his  for- 
tune. He  had  written  some  creditable  sketches  for  the  New 
Yorker,  over  the  signature  of  "Fantome,"  and  on  reaching  the 
city  called  upon  Horace  Greeley.  The  result  was  that  he  entered 
the  office  as  an  assistant  editor  "  till  he  could  get  something  bet- 
ter," and  it  may  encourage  some  young,  hard-working,  unrecognized, 
ill-paid  journalist,  to  know  that  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Daily 
Times  began  his  editorial  career  upon  a  salary  of  eight  dollars  a 
week.  The  said  unrecognized,  however,  should  further  be  informed, 
that  Mr.  Raymond  is  the  hardest  and  swiftest  worker  connected 
with  the  New  York  Press. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   JEFFERSONIAN. 

Objects  of  the  Jeflersonian — Its  character — A  novel  Glorious- Victory  paragraph — The 
Graves  and  Cilley  duel— The  Editor  overworked. 

THE  slender  income  derived  from  the  New  Yorker  obliged  its 
editor  to  engage  in  other  labors.  He  wrote,  as  occasion  offered,  for 
various  periodicals.  The  Daily  Whig  he  supplied  with  its  leading 
article  for  several  months,  and  in  1838  undertook  the  entire  edito- 
rial charge  of  the  Jeffersonian,  a  weekly  paper  of  the  4  campaign  * 
description,  started  at  Albany  on  the  third  of  March,  and  continu- 
ing in  existence  for  one  year. 

With  the  conception  and  the  establishment  of  the  Jeffersonian, 
Horace  Greeley  had  nothing  to  do.  It  was  published  under  the 
auspices  and  by  the  direction  of  the  Whig  Central  Committee  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  fund  for  its  establishment  was  con- 
tributed by  the  leading  politicians  of  the  State  in  sums  of  ten  dol- 
lars. "  I  never  sought  the  post  of  its  editor,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley  in 
1848,  "  but  was  sought  for  it  by  leading  whigs  whom  I  had  never 
before  personally  known."  It  was  afforded  at  fifty  cents  a  year, 
attained  rapidly  a  circulation  of  fifteen  thousand  ;  the  editor,  who 
spent  three  days  of  each  week  in  Albany,  receiving  for  his  year's 
services  a  thousand  dollars.  The  ostensible  object  of  the  paper  was 
— to  quote  the  language  of  its  projectors — "to  furnish  to  every 
person  within  the  State  of  New  York  a  complete  summary  of  politi- 
cal intelligence,  at  a  rate  which  shall  place  it  absolutely  within  the 
reach  of  every  man  who  will  read  it."  But,  according  to  the  sub- 
sequent explanation  of  the  Tribune,  "it  was  established  on  the  im- 
pulse of  the  whig  tornado  of  1837,  to  secure  a  like  result  in  1838, 
so  as  to  give  the  Whig  party  a  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor, 
Senate,  Assembly,  U.  S.  Senator,  Congressmen,  and  all  the  vast  ex- 
ecutive patronage  of  the  State,  then  amounting  to  millions  of  dol- 
lars a  year." 


GLORIOUS   VICTORY.  175 

The  Jeffersonian  was  a  good  paper.  It  was  published  in  a  neat 
quarto  form  of  eight  pages.  Its  editorials,  generally  few  and  brief, 
were  written  to  convince,  not  to  inflame,  to  enlighten,  not  to  blind. 
It  published  a  great  many  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  day,  some 
for,  some  against,  its  own  principles.  Each  number  contained  a  full 
and  well-compiled  digest  of  political  intelligence,  and  one  page,  or 
more,  of  general  intelligence.  It  was  not,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
like  what  is  generally  understood  by  a  *  campaign  paper.'  Capital 
letters  and  points  of  admiration  were  as  little  used  as  in  the  sedate 
and  courteous  columns  of  the  New  Yorker ;  and  there  is  scarcely 
anything  to  be  found  of  the  '  Glorious- Victory '  sort  except  this : 

"  Glorious  Victory  !  ( We  have  met  the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours  !'  Our 
whole  ticket,  with  the  exception  of  town  clerk,  one  constable,  three  fence-view- 
ers, a  pound-master  and  two  hog-reeves  elected !  There  never  was  such  a 
triumph !" 

Stop,  my  friend.  Have  you  elected  the  hest  men  to  the  several  offices  to  be 
filled  ?  Have  you  chosen  men  who  have  hitherto  evinced  not  only  capacity 
but  integrity  1 — men  whom  you  would  trust  implicity  in  every  relation  and 
business  of  life  ?  Above  all,  have  you  selected  the  very  best  person  in  the 
township  for  the  important  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  ?  If  yea,  we  rejoice 
with  you.  If  the  men  whose  election  will  best  subserve  the  cause  of  virtue 
and  public  order  have  been  chosen,  even  your  opponents  will  have  little  rea- 
son for  regret.  If  it  be  otherwise,  you  have  achieved  but  an  empty  and  du- 
bious triumph.  ^* 

It  would  be  gratifying  to  know  what  the  "Whig  Central  Commit- 
tee thought  of  such  unexampled  '  campaign '  language.  In  a  word, 
the  Jeffersonian  was  a  better  fifty  cents  worth  of  thought  and  fact 
than  had  previously,  or  has  since,  been  afforded,  in  the  form  of  a 
weekly  paper. 

The  columns  of  the  Jeffersonian  afford  little  material  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  volume.  There  are  scarcely  any  of  those  character- 
istic touches,  those  autobiographical  allusions,  that  contribute  so 
much  to  the  interest  of  other  papers  with  which  our  hero  has  been 
connected.  This  is  one,  however : 

(Whosoever  may  have  picked  up  the  wallet  of  the  editor  of  this 
paper — lost  somewhere  near  State  street,  about  the  20th  ult,  shall 
receive  half  the  contents,  all  round,  by  returning  the  balance  to  this 
office.) 


176  THE    JEFFERSONIAN, 

I  will  indulge  the  reader  with  one  article  entire  from  the  Jeffer- 
sonian ;  1,  because  it  is  interesting ;  2,  because  it  will  serve  to  show 
the  spirit  and  the  manner  of  the  editor  in  recording  and  comment- 
ing upon  the  topics  of  the  day.  He  has  since  written  more  em- 
phatic, but  not  more  effective  articles,  on  similar  subjects  : 

THE  TRAGEDY  AT  WASHINGTON. 

THE  whole  country  is  shocked,  and  its  moral  sensibilities  outraged,  by  the 
horrible  tragedy  lately  perpetrated  at  Washington,  of  which  a  member  of 
Congress  was  the  victim.  It  was,  indeed,  an  awful,  yet  we  will  hope  not  a 
profitless  catastrophe ;  and  we  blush  for  human  nature  when  we  observe  the 
most  systematic  efforts  used  to  pervert  to  purposes  of  party  advantage  and 
personal  malignity,  a  result  which  should  be  sacred  to  the  interests  of  human- 
ity and  morality — to  the  stern  inculcation  and  enforcement  of  a  reverence  for 
the  laws  of  the  land  and  the  mandates  of  God. 

Nearly  a  month  since,  a  charge  of  corruption,  or  an  offer  to  sell  official  in- 
fluence and  exertion  for  a  pecuniary  consideration,  against  some  unnamed 
member  of  Congress,  was  transmitted  to  the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer 
by  its  correspondent,  '  the  Spy  in  Washington.'  Its  appearance  in  that  journal 
called  forth  a  resolution  from  Mr.  Wise,  that  the  charge  be  investigated  by 
the  House.  On  this  an  irregular  and  excited  debate  arose,  which  consumed  a 
day  or  two,  and  which  was  signalized  by  severe  attacks  on  the  Public  Press 
of  this  country,  and  on  the  letter-writers  from  Washington.  In  particular, 
the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  in  which  this  charge  appeared,  its  chief  Editor,  and 
its  correspondent  the  Spy,  were  stigmatized ;  and  Mr.  Cilley,  a  member  from 
Maine,  was  among  those  who  gave  currency  to  the  charges.  Col.  Webb,  the 
Editor,  on  the  appearance  of  these  charges,  instantly  proceeded  to  Washington, 
and  there  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Cilley  on  the  subject.  That  note,  it  ap- 
pears, was  courteous  and  dignified  in  its  language,  merely  inquiring  of  Mr. 
C.  if  his  remarks,  published  in  the  Globe,  were  intended  to  convey  any  per- 
sonal disrespect  to  the  writer,  and  containing  no  menace  of  any  kind.  It  was 
handed  to  Mr.  Cilley  by  Mr.  Graves,  a  member  from  Kentucky,  but  declined 
by  Mr.  C.,  on  the  ground,  as  was  understood,  that  he  did  not  choose  to  be 
drawn  into  controversy  with  Editors  of  public  journals  in  regard  to  his  remarks 
in  the  House.  This  was  correct  and  honorable  ground.  The  Constitution 
expressly  provides  that  members  of  Congress  shall  not  be  responsible  else- 
where for  words  spoken  in  debate,  and  the  provision  is  a  most  noble  and 
necessary  one. 

But  Mr.  Graves  considered  the  reply  as  placing  him  in  an  equivocal  posi- 
tion. If  a  note  transmitted  through  his  hands  had  been  declined,  as  was 
liable  to  be  understood,  because  the  writer  was  not  worthy  the  treatment  of 
a  gentleman,  the  dishonor  was  reflected  on  himself  as  the  bearer  of  a  disgrace- 


THE   GRAVES   AND   CILLEY   DUEL.  177 

ful  message.  Mr.  Graves,  therefore,  wrote  a  note  to  Mr.  C.,  asking  him  if 
he  were  correct  in  his  understanding  that  the  letter  in  question  was  declined 
because  Mr.  C.  could  not  consent  to  hold  himself  accountable  to  public  jour- 
nalists for  words  spoken  in  debate,  and  not  on  grounds  of  personal  objection 
to  Col.  Webb  as  a  gentleman.  To  this  note  Mr.  Cilley  replied,  on  the  ad- 
visement of  his  friends,  that  he  declined  the  note  of  Col.  Webb,  because  he 
"  chose  to  be  drawn  into  no  controversy  with  him"  and  added  that  he 
"  neither  affirmed  nor  denied  anything  in  regard  to  his  character."  This  was 
considered  by  Mr.  Graves  as  involving  him  fully  in  the  dilemma  which  he 
was  seeking  to  avoid,  and  amounting  to  an  impeachment  of  his  veracity,  and 
he  now  addressed  another  note  to  inquire,  "  whether  you  declined  to  receive  his 
(Col.  Webb's)  communication  on  the  ground  of  any  personal  objection  to  him 
as  a  gentleman  of  honor?"  To  this  query  Mr.  Cilley  declined  to  give  an 
answer,  denying  the  right  of  Mr.  G.  to  propose  it.  The  next  letter  in  course 
was  a  challenge  from  Mr.  Graves  by  the  hand  of  Mr.  Wise,  promptly  respond- 
ed to  by  Mr.  Cilley  through  Gen.  Jones  of  Wisconsin. 

The  weapons  selected  by  Mr.  Cilley  were  rifles  ;  the  distance  eighty  yards. 
(It  was  said  that  Mr.  Cilley  was  practicing  with  the  selected  weapon  the 
morning  of  accepting  the  challenge,  and  that  he  lodged  eleven  balls  in  suc- 
cession in  a  space  of  four  inches  square.)  Mr.  Graves  experienced  some  diffi- 
culty in  procuring  a  rifle,  and  asked  time,  which  was  granted ;  and  Gen. 
Jones,  Mr.  Cilley's  second,  tendered  him  the  use  of  his  own  rifle  ;  but,  mean- 
time, Mr.  Graves  had  procured  one. 

The  challenge  was  delivered  at  12  o'clock  on  Friday ;  the  hour  selected  by 
Mr.  Cilley  was  12  of  the  following  day.  His  unexpected  choice  of  rifles,  how- 
ever, and  Mr.  Graves'  inability  to  procure  one,  delayed  the  meeting  till  2 
o'clock. 

The  first  fire  was  ineffectual.  Mr.  Wise,  as  second  of  the  challenging  party, 
now  called  all  parties  together,  to  effect  a  reconciliation.  Mr.  C.  declining  to 
negotiate  while  under  challenge,  it  was  suspended  to  give  room  for  explana- 
tion. Mr.  Wise  remarked — "  Mr.  .Jones,  these  gentlemen  have  come  here 
without  animosity  towards  each  other  ;  they  are  fighting  merely  upon  a  point 
of  honor ;  cannot  Mr.  Cilley  assign  some  reason  for  not  receiving  at  Mr. 
Graves'  hands  Colonel  Webb's  communication,  or  make  some  disclaimer  which 
will  relieve  Mr.  Graves  from  his  position  7"  The  reply  was — "  I  am  author- 
ized by  my  friend,  Mr.  Cilley,  to  say  that  in  declining  to  receive  the  note  from 
Mr.  Graves,  purporting  to  be  from  Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect  to 
Mr.  Graves,  because  he  entertained  for  him  then,  as  he  now  does,  the  highest 
respect  and  the  most  kind  feelings  ;  but  that  he  declined  to  receive  the  note 
because  he  chose  not  to  be  drawn  into  any  controversy  with  Colonel  Webb." 
This  is  Mr.  Jones'  version  ;  Mr.  Wise  thinks  he  said,  "  My  friend  refuses  to 
disclaim  disrespect  to  Colonel  Webb,  because  he  does  not  choose  to  be  drawn 
into  an  expression  of  opinion  as  to  him."  After  consultation,  Mr.  Wise  re- 

8* 


178  THE   JEFFERSONIAtf, 

turned  to  Mr.  Jones  and  said,  "  Mr.  Jones,  this  answer  leaves  Mr.  Graves  pre- 
cisely in  the  position  in  which  he  stood  when  the  challenge  was  sent." 

Another  exchange  of  shots  was  now  had  to  no  purpose,  and  another  attempt 
at  reconciliation  was  likewise  unsuccessful.  The  seconds  appear  to  have  been 
mutually  and  anxiously  desirous  that  the  affair  should  here  terminate,  but  no 
arrangement  could  be  effected.  Mr.  Graves  insisted  that  his  antagonist  should 
place  his  refusal  to  receive  the  message  of  which  he  was  the  bearer  on  some 
grounds  which  did  not  imply  such  an  opinion  of  the  writer  as  must  reflect  dis- 
grace on  the  bearer.  He  endeavored  to  have  the  refusal  placed  on  the  ground 
that  Mr.  C.  "  did  not  hold  himself  accountable  to  Colonel  Webb  for  words 
spoken  in  debate."  This  was  declined  by  Mr.  Cilley,  and  the  duel  proceeded. 

The  official  statement,  drawn  up  by  the  two  seconds,  would  seem  to  import 
that  but  three  shots  were  exchanged ;  but  other  accounts  state  positively  that 
Mr.  Cilley  fell  at  the  fourth  fire.  He  was  shot  through  the  body,  and  died  in 
two  minutes.  On  seeing  that  he  had  fallen,  badly  wounded,  Mr.  Graves  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  see  him,  and  was  answered  by  Mr.  Jones — "  My  friend  is 
dead,  sir !" 

Colonel  Webb  first  heard  of  the  difficulty  which  had  arisen  on  Friday  even- 
ing, but  was  given  to  understand  that  the  meeting  would  not  take  place  for 
several  days.  On  the  following  morning,  however,  ho  had  reason  to  suspect 
the  truth.  He  immediately  armed  himself,  and  with  two  friends  proceeded  to 
Mr.  Cilley's  lodgings,  intending  to  force  the  latter  to  meet  him  before  he  did 
Mr.  Graves.  He  did  not  find  him,  however,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  the 
old  dueling  ground  at  Bladensburgh,  and  thence  to  several  other  places,  to 
interpose  himself  as  the  rightful  antagonist  of  Mr.  Cilley.  Had  he  found  the 
parties,  a  more  dreadful  tragedy  still  would  doubtless  have  ensued.  But  the 
place  of  meeting  had  been  changed,  and  the  arrangements  so  secretly  made, 
that  though  Mr.  Clay  and  many  others  were  on  the  alert  to  prevent  it,  the 
duel  was  not  interrupted. 

"  We  believe  we  have  here  stated  every  material  fact  in  relation  to  this 
melancholy  business.  It  is  suggested,  however,  that  Mr.  Cilley  was  less  dis- 
posed to  concede  anything  from  the  first  in  consideration  of  his  own  course 
when  a  difficulty  recently  arose  between  two  of  his  colleagues,  Messrs.  Jarvis 
and  Smith,  which  elicited  a  challenge  from  the  former,  promptly  and  nobly 
declined  by  the  latter.  This  refusal,  it  is  said,  was  loudly  and  vehemently 
stigmatized  as  cowardly  by  Mr.  Cilley.  This  circumstance  does  not  come  to 
us  well  authenticated,  but  it  is  spoken  of  as  notorious  at  Washington. 

"  But  enough  of  detail  and  circumstance.  The  reader  who  has  not  seen  the 
official  statement  will  find  its  substance  in  the  foregoing.  He  can  lay  the 
blame  where  he  chooses.  We  blame  only  the  accursed  spirit  of  False  Honor 
which  required  this  bloody  sacrifice — the  horrid  custom  of  Dueling  which  ex- 
acts and  palliates  this  atrocity.  It  appears  evident  that  Mr.  Cilley's  course 
must  have  been  based  on  the  determination  that  Col.  Webb  was  not  entitled 


THE   EDITOR    OVERWORKED.  179 

to  be  regarded  as  a  gentleman  ;  and  if  so,  there  was  hardly  an  escape  from 
a  bloody  conclusion  after  Mr.  Graves  had  once  consented,  however  uncon- 
sciously, to  bear  the  note  of  Col.  Webb.  Each  of  the  parties,  doubtless,  acted 
as  he  considered  due  to  his  own  character ;  each  was  right  in  the  view  of  the 
duelist's  code  of  honor,  but  fearfully  wrong  in  the  eye  of  reason,  of  morality, 
of  humanity,  and  the  imperative  laws  of  man  and  of  God.  Of  the  principals, 
one  sleeps  cold  and  stiff  beneath  the  icy  pall  of  winter  and  the  clods  of  the 
valley ;  the  other — far  more  to  be  pitied — lives  to  execrate  through  years  of 
anguish  and  remorse  the  hour  when  he  was  impelled  to  imbrue  his  hands  in 
the  blood  of  a  fellow-being. 

Mr.  Graves  we  know  personally,  and  a  milder  and  more  amiable  gentleman 
is  rarely  to  be  met  with.  He  has  for  the  last  two  years  been  a  Representative 
from  the  Louisville  District,  Kentucky,  and  is  universally  esteemed  and  be- 
loved. Mr.  Cilley  was  a  young  man  of  one  of  the  best  families  in  New  Hamp- 
shire; his  grandfather  was  a  Colonel  and  afterwards  a  General  of  the  Revo- 
lution. His  brother  was  a  Captain  in  the  last  War  with  Great  Britain,  and 
leader  of  the  desperate  bayonet  charge  at  Bridgewater.  Mr.  Cilley  himself, 
though  quite  a  young  man,  has  been  for  two  years  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  Maine,  and  was  last  year  elected  to  Congress  from  the 
Lincoln  District,  which  is  decidedly  opposed  to  him  in  politics,  and  which 
recently  gave  1,200  majority  for  the  other  side.  Young  as  he  was,  he  had  ac- 
quired a  wide  popularity  and  influence  in  his  own  State,  and  was  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  brilliant  career  in  the  National  Councils.  And  this  man,  with 
so  many  ties  to  bind  him  to  life,  with  the  sky  of  his  future  bright  with  hope, 
without  an  enemy  on  earth,  and  with  a  wife  and  three  children  of  tender  age 
whom  his  death  must  drive  to  the  verge  of  madness — has  perished  miserably 
in  a  combat  forbidden  by  God,  growing  out  of  a  difference  so  pitiful  in  itself, 
so  direful  in  its  consequences. 

Could  we  add  anything  to  render  the  moral  more  terribly  impressive  ? 

The  year  of  the  Jeffersonian  was  a  most  laborious  and  harassing 
one.  No  one  but  a  Greeley  would  or  could  have  endured  such  con- 
tinuous and  distracting  toils.  He  had  two  papers  to  provide  for ; 
papers  diverse  in  character,  papers  published  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  apart,  papers  to  which  expectant  thousands  looked  for  their 
weekly  supply  of  mental  pabulum.  As  soon  as  the  agony  of  getting 
the  New  Yorker  to  press  was  over,  and  copy  for  the  outside  of  the 
next  number  given  out,  away  rushed  the  editor  to  the  Albany  boat ; 
and  after  a  night  of  battle  with  the  bed-bugs  of  the  cabin,  or  the 
politicians  of  the  hurricane-deck,  he  hurried  off  to  new  duties  at  the 
office  of  the  Jeffersonian.  The  Albany  boat  of  1838  was  a  very 
different  style  of  conveyance  from  the  Albany  boat  of  the  present 


180  THE   LOG   CABIN. 

year  of  our  Lord.  It  was,  in  fact,  not  much  more  than  six  times  as 
elegant  and  comfortable  as  the  steamers  that,  at  this  hour,  ply  in 
the  seas  and  channels  of  Europe.  The  sufferings  of  our  hero  may 
be  imagined. 

But,  not  his  labors.  They  can  be  understood  only  by  those  who 
know,  by  blessed  experience,  what  it  is  to  get  up,  or  try  to  get  up, 
a  good,  correct,  timely,  and  entertaining  weekly  paper.  The  sub- 
ject of  editorial  labor,  however,  must  be  reserved  for  a  future  page. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    LOG-CABIN. 
"TIPPECANOE  AND  TYLER  TOO." 

Wire-pulling— The  delirium  of  1840— The  Log-Cabin— Unprecedented  hit— A  glance  at 
its  pages — Log-Cabin  jokes — Log-Cabin  songs — Horace  Greeley  and  the  cake-bas- 
ket—Pecuniary  difficulties  continue— The  Tribune  announced. 

WIRE-PULLING  is  a  sneaking,  bad,  demoralizing  business,  and  the 
people  hate  it.  The  campaign  of  1840,  which  resulted  in  the  elec- 
tion of  General  Harrison  to  the  presidency,  was,  at  bottom,  the 
revolt  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  against  the  wire-pulling 
principle,  supposed  to  be  incarnate  in  the  person  of  Martin  Van 
Buren.  Other  elements  entered  into  the  delirium  of  those  mad 
months.  The  country  was  only  recovering,  and  that  slowly,  from 
the  disasters  of  1836  and  1837,  and  the  times  were  still  '  hard.' 
But  the  fire  and  fury  of  the  struggle  arose  from  the  fact,  that  Gen- 
eral Harrison,  a  man  who  had  done  something,  was  pitted  against 
Martin  Van  Buren,  a  man  who  had  pulled  wires.  The  hero  of  Tip- 
pecanoe  and  the  farmer  of  North  Bend,  against  the  wily  diplomatist 
who  partook  of  sustenance  by  the  aid  of  gold  spoons.  The  Log- 
Cabin  against  the  White  House. 

Great  have  been  the  triumphs  of  wire-pulling  in  this  and  other 
countries ;  and  yet  it  is  an  unsafe  thing  to  engage  in.  As  bluff 
King  Hal  melted  away,  with  one  fiery  glance,  all  the  greatness  of 


UNPRECEDENTED   HIT.  181 

Wolsey ;  as  the  elephant,  with  a  tap  of  his  trunk,  knocks  the  breath 
out  of  the  little  tyrant  whom  he  had  been  long  accustomed  implicitly 
to  obey, — so  do  the  People,  in  some  quite  unexpected  moment,  blow 
away,  with  one  breath,  the  elaborate  and  deep-laid  schemes  of  the 
republican  wire-puller ;  and  him  !  They  have  done  it,  O  wire-pul- 
ler !  and  will  do  it  again. 

Who  can  have  forgotten  that  campaign  of  1840?  The  'mass 
meetings,'  the  log-cabin  raisings,  the  'hard  cider'  drinking,  the  song 
singing,  the  Tippecanoe  clubs,  the  caricatures,  the  epigrams,  the 
jokes,  the  universal  excitement !  General  Harrison  was  sung  into 
the  presidential  chair.  Yan  Buren  was  laughed  out  of  it.  Every 
town  had  its  log-cabin,  its  club,  and  its  chorus.  Tippecanoe  song- 
books  were  sold  by  the  hundred  thousand.  There  were  Tippecanoe 
medals,  Tippecanoe  badges,  Tippecanoe  flags,  Tippecanoe  handker- 
chiefs, Tippecanoe  almanacs,  and  Tippecauoe  shaving-soap.  All 
other  interests  were  swallowed  up  in  the  one  interest  of  the  elec- 
tion. All  noises  were  drowned  in  the  cry  of  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler 
too. 

The  man  who  contributed  most  to  keep  alive  and  increase  the 
popular  enthusiasm,  the  man  who  did  most  to  feed  that  enthusiasm 
with  the  substantial  fuel  of  fact  and  argument,  was,  beyond  all  ques- 
tion, Horace  Greeley. 

On  the  second  of  May,  the  first  number  of  the  LOG-CABIN  ap- 
peared, by  4  H.  Greeley  &  Co.,'  a  weekly  paper,  to  be  published 
simultaneously  at  New  York  and  Albany,  at  fifty  cents  for  the  cam- 
paign of  six  months.  It  was  a  small  paper,  about  half  the  size  of 
the  present  Tribune ;  but  it  was  conducted  with  wonderful  spirit, 
and  made  an  unprecedented  hit.  Of  the  first  number,  an  edition  of 
twenty  thousand  was  printed,  which  Mr.  Greeley 's  friends  thought  a  far 
greater  number  than  would  be  sold ;  but  the  edition  vanished  from  the 
counter  in  a  day.  Eight  thousand  more  were  struck  off ;  they  were 
sold  in  a  morning.  Four  thousand  more  were  printed,  and  still  the 
demand  seemed  unabated.  A  further  supply  of  six  thousand  was 
printed,  and  the  types  were  then  distributed.  lu  a  few  days,  how- 
ever, the  demand  became  so  urgent,  that  the  number  was  re-set,  and 
an  edition  of  ten  thousand  struck  off.  Altogether,  forty-eight  thou- 
sand of  the  first  number  were  sold.  Subscribers  came  pouring  in 
at  the  rate  of  seven  hundred  a  day.  The  list  lengthened  in  a  few 


182  THE   LO&   CASltf. 

weeks  to  sixty  thousand  names,  and  kept  increasing  till  the  weekly 
issue  was  between  eighty  and  ninety  thousand.  '  H.  Greeley  and 
Co.'  were  really  overwhelmed  with  their  success.  They  had  made 
no  preparations  for  such  an  enormous  increase  of  business,  and  they 
were  troubled  to  hire  clerks  and  folders  fast  enough  to  get  their 
stupendous  edition  into  the  mails. 

The  Log  Cabin  is  not  dull  reading,  even  now,  after  the  lapse  of 
fifteen  years ;  and  though  the  men  and  the  questions  of  that  day 
are,  most  of  them,  dead.  But  then,  it  was  devoured  with  an  eager- 
ness, which  even  those  who  remember  it  can  hardly  realize.  Let 
us  glance  hastily  over  its  pages. 

The  editor  explained  the  '  objects  and  scope'  of  the  little  paper, 
thus  :— 

u  The  Log  Cabin  will  be  a  zealous  and  unwavering  advocate  of 
the  rights,  interests  and  prosperity  of  our  whole  country,  but  es- 
pecially those  of  the  hardy  subduers  and  cultivators  of  her  soil.  It 
will  be  the  advocate  of  the  cause  of  the  Log  Cabin  against  that  of 
the  Custom  House  and  Presidential  Palace.  It  will  be  an  advocate 
of  the  interests  of  unassuming  industry  against  the  schemes  and 
devices  of  functionaries  '  drest  in  a  little  brief  authority,'  whose 
salaries  are  trebled  in  value  whenever  Labor  is  forced  to  beg  for  em- 
ployment at  three  or  four  shillings  a  day.  It  will  be  the  advocate  of 
a  sound,  uniform,  adequate  Currency  for  our  whole  country,  against 
the  visionary  projects  and  ruinous  experiments  of  the  official  Dous- 
terswivels  of  the  day,  who  commenced  by  promising  Prosperity, 
Abundance,  and  Plenty  of  Gold  as  the  sure  result  of  their  policy ; 
and  lo!  we  have  its  issues  in  disorganization,  bankruptcy,  low 
wages  and  treasury  rags.  In  fine,  it  will  be  the  advocate  of  Free- 
dom, Improvement,  and  of  National  Keform,  by  the  election  of 
Harrison  and  Tyler,  the  restoration  of  purity  to  the  government,  of 
efficiency  to  the  public  will,  and  of  Better  Times  to  the  People. 
Such  are  the  objects  and  scope  of  the  Log  Cabin." 

The  contents  of  the  Log  Cabin  were  of  various  kinds.  The  first 
page  was  devoted  to  Literature  of  an  exclusively  Tippecanoe  charac- 
ter, such  as  **  Sketch  of  Gen.  Harrison,"  "  Anecdote  of  Gen.  Har- 
rison," "  General  Harrison's  Creed,"  "  Slanders  on  Gen.  Harrison  re- 
futed," "Meeting  of  the  Old  Soldiers,"  &c.  The  first  number  had 
twenty-eight  articles  and  paragraphs  of  this  description.  The  sec- 


A    GLANCE    AT   ITS   PAGES.  183 

ond  page  contained  editorials  and  correspondence.  The  third  was 
where  the  "  Splendid  Victories,"  and  "  Unprecedented  Triumphs," 
were  recorded.  The  fourth  page  contained  a  Tippecanoe  song  with 
music,  and  a  few  articles  of  a  miscellaneous  character.  Dr.  Chan- 
ning's  lecture  upon  the  Elevation  of  the  Laboring  Classes  ran 
through  several  of  the  early  numbers.  Most  of  the  numbers  con- 
tain an  engraving  or  two,  plans  of  General  Harrison's  battles,  por- 
traits of  the  candidates,  or  a  caricature.  One  of  the  caricatures 
represented  Van  Buren  caught  in  a  trap,  and  over  the  picture  was 
the  following  explanation:— "The  frew  Era  has  prepared  and 
pictured  a  Log  Cabin  Trap,  representing  a  Log  Cabin — set  as  a 
figure-4-trap,  and  baited  with  a  barrel  of  hard  cider.  By  the  follow- 
ing it  will  be  seen  that  the  trap  has  been  SPRUNG,  and  a  sly  nibbler 
from  Kinderhook  is  looking  out  through  the  gratings.  Old  Hickory 
is  intent  on  prying  him  out;  but  it  is  manifestly  no  go."  The 
editorials  of  the  Log  Cabin  were  mostly  of  a  serious  and  argument- 
ative cast,  upon  the  Tariff,  the  Currency,  and  the  Hard  Times. 
They  were  able  and  timely.  The  spirit  of  the  campaign,  however, 
is  contained  in  the  other  departments  of  the  paper,  from  which  a 
few  brief  extracts  may  amuse  the  reader  for  a  moment,  as  well  as 
illustrate  the  feeling  of  the  time. 

The  Log  Cabins  that  were  built  all  over  the  country,  were 
4  raised '  and  inaugurated  with  a  great  show  of  rejoicing.  In  one 
number  of  the  paper,  there  are  accounts  of  as  many  as  six  of  these 
hilarious  ceremonials,  with  their  speechifyings  and  hard-cider  drink- 
ings.  The  humorous  paragraph  annexed  appears  in  an  early  num- 
ber, under  the  title  of  "  Thrilling  Log  Cabin  Incident :" — 

"  The  whigs  of  Erie,  Pa.,  raised  a  Log  Cabin  last  week  from  which  the  ban- 
ner of  Harrison  and  Reform  was  displayed.  While  engaged  in  the  dedica- 
tion of  their  Cabin,  the  whigs  received  information  which  led  them  to  appre- 
hend a  hostile  demonstration  from  Harbor  Creek,  a  portion  of  the  borough 
whose  citizens  had  ever  been  strong  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  men.  Soon  after- 
wards a  party  of  horsemen,  about  forty jn  number,  dressed  in  Indian  costume, 
armed  with  tomahawks  and  scalping  knives,  approached  the  Cabin  !  The 
whigs  made  prompt  preparations  to  defend  their  banner.  The  scene  became  in- 
tensely exciting.  The  assailants  rode  up  to  the  Cabin,  dismounted,  and  surren- 
dered themselves  up  as  voluntary  prisoners  of  war.  On  inquiry,  they  proved  to 
be  stanch  Jackson  men  from  Harbor  Creek,  who  had  taken  that  mode  of  array- 


184  THE   LOG   CABItf. 

ing  themselves  under  the  HARRISON  BANNER  !  The  tomahawk  was  then  bur- 
ied ;  after  which  the  string  of  the  latch  was  pushed  out,  and  the  Harbor-Creek- 
ers  were  ushered  into  the  Cabin,  where  they  pledged  their  support  to  Harri- 
son in  a  bumper  of  good  old  hard  cider." 

The  great  joker  of  that  election,  as  of  every  other  since,  was  Mr. 
Prentice,  of  the  Louisville  Journal,  the  wittiest  of  editors,  living  or 
dead.  Many  of  his  good  things  appear  in  the  Log  Cabin,  but  most 
of  them  allude  to  men  and  events  that  have  been  forgotten,  and  the 
point  of  the  joke  is  lost.  The  following  are  three  of  the  Log  Cab- 
in jokes  ;  they  sparkled  in  1840,  flat  as  they  may  seem  now : — 

"  The  Globe  says  that  '  there  are  but  two  parties  in  the  country,  the  poor 
man's  party  and  the  rich  man's  party,'  and  that  '  Mr.  Van  Puren  is  the  friend 
of  the  former.'  The  President  is  certainly  in  favor  of  strengthening  the  poor 
man's  party,  numerically  !  He  goes  for  impoverishing  the  whole  country — 
except  the  office-holders." 

"  What  do  the  locofocos  expect  by  vilifying  the  Log  Cabin  ?  Do  they  not 
know  that  a  Log  Cabin  is  all  the  better  for  being  daubed  with  mud  ?" 

"  A  whig  passing  through  the  streets  of  Boston  a  few  mornings  ago,  espied 
a  custom-house  officer  gazing  ruefully  at  a  bulletin  displaying  the  latest  news 

of  the  Maine  election.     "  Ah !  Mr. ,  taking  your  bitters  this  morning, 

I  see."     The  way  the  loco  scratched  gravel  was  a  pattern  for  sub-treasurers." 

One  specimen  paragraph  from  the  department  of  political  news 
will  suffice  to  show  the  frenzy  of  those  who  wrote  for  it.  A  letter- 
writer  at  Utica,  describing  a  '  mass  meeting '  in  that  city,  bursts  up- 
on his  readers  in  this  style : 

"  This  has  been  the  proudest,  brightest  day  of  my  life !  Never— no,  never, 
have  I  before  seen  the  people  in  their  majesty !  Never  were  the  foundations 
of  popular  sentiment  so  broken  up  !  The  scene  from  early  dawn  to  sunset, 
has  been  one  of  continued,  increasing,  bewildering  enthusiasm.  The  hearts  of 
TWENTY- FIVE  THOUSAND  FREEMEN  have  been  overflowing  with  gratitude,  and 
gladness,  and  joy.  It  has  been  a  day  of  jubilee — an  ERA  OF  DELIVERANCE 
FOR  CENTRAL  NEW  YORK  !  The  people  inwaves»have  poured  in  from  the  val- 
leys and  rushed  down  from  the  mountains.  The  city  has  been  vocal  with  elo- 
quence, with  music,  and  with  acclamations.  Demonstrations  of  strength,  and  em- 
blems of  victory,  and  harbingers  of  prosperity  are  all  around  us,  cheering  and 
animating,  and  assuring  a  people  who  are  finally  and  effectually  aroused.  I  will 
not  now  attempt  to  describe  the  procession  of  the  people.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 


LOG   CABIN   SONGS.  185 

there  was  an  ocean  of  them  !  The  procession  was  over  FIVE  MILES  LONG.  * 
*  *  Governor  Seward  and  Lieut.  Gov.  Bradish  were  unanimously  nomina- 
ted by  resolution  for  re-election.  The  result  was  communicated  to  the  people 
assembled  in  MASS  in  Chancery  Square,  whose  response  to  the  nomination  was 
spontaneous,  loud,  deep  and  resounding." 

The  profusion  of  the  presidential  mansion  was  one  of  the  stand- 
ing topics  of  those  who  wished  to  eject  its  occupant.  In  one  num- 
ber of  the  Log-Cabin  is  a  speech,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives  by  a  member  of  the  opposition,  in  which  the  bills  of  the 
persons  who  supplied  the  White  House  are  given  at  length.  Take 
these  specimens  : 

34  tattle  knives  ground,          .......        $1,37£ 

2  new  knife  blades,  ........          75 

2  cook's  knife  blades,  .......          2,50 


2  dozen  brooms,        ........  $3,75 

1-2  do.    hard  scrubs,            .......  2,37 

1-2  do.    brooms,       .........  1,38 

6,50 

2  tin  buckets,        .........  82,00 

Milk  strainer  and  skimmer,     .......  92£ 

Chamber  bucket,           ........  2,00 

2  dozen  tart  pans,             ........  2,50 


This  seems  like  putting  an  extremely  fine  point  upon  a  political  ar- 
gument. What  the  orator  wished  to  show,  however,  was,  that  such 
articles  as  the  above  ought  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the  presidential 
salary,  not  the  public  treasury.  The  speech  exhibited  some  columns 
of  these  '  house-bills.'  It  made  a  great  sensation,  and  was  enough 
to  cure  any  decent  man  of  a  desire  to  become  a  servant  of  the 
people. 

But,  as  I  have  observed,  Gen.  Harrison  was  sung  into  the  presi- 
dential chair.  The  Log  Cabin  preserves  a  large  number  of  the  politi- 
cal ditties  of  the  time ;  the  editor  himself  contributing  two.  A  very 
few  stanzas  will  suffice  to  show  the  quality  of  the  Tippecanoe  poetry. 
The  following  is  one  from  the  *  Wolverine's  Song' : 


186  THE   LOG    CABIN. 

We  know  that  Van  Buren  can  ride  in  hL?  coach, 
With  servants,  forbidding  the  Vulgar's  approach— 
We  know  that  his  fortune  such  things  will  allow, 
And  we  know  that  our  candidate  follows  the  plough  ; 
But  what  if  he  does  ?    Who  was  bolder  to  fight 
In  his  country's  defence  on  that  perilous  night, 
When  naught  save  his  valor  sufficed  to  subdue 
Our  foes  at  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe  1 

Hurrah  for  Tippecanoe ! 
He  dropped  the  red  Locos  at  Tippecanoe ! 

From  the  song  of  the  '  Buckeye  Cabin,'  these  are  two  stanzas : 

Oh  !  where,  tell  me  where,  was  your  Buckeye  Cabin  made  ? 
Oh  !  where,  tell  me  where,  was  your  Buckeye  Cabin  made  ? 
'Twas  made  among  the  merry  boys  that  wield  the  plough  and  spade 
Where  the  Log  Cabins  stand  in  the  bonnie  Buckeye  shade. 

Oh  !  what,  tell  me  what,  is  to  be  your  Cabin's  fate  1 
Oh!  what,  tell  ine  what,  is  to  be  your  Cabin's  fate? 
We  '11  wheel  it  to  the  Capitol  and  place  it  there  elate, 
For  a  token  and  a  sign  of  the  bonnie  Buckeye  State. 

The  '  Turn  Out  Song'  was  very  popular,  and  easy  to  sing : 

From  the  White  House,  now  Matty,  turn  out,  turn  out, 
From  the  White  House,  now  Matty,  turn  out ! 
Since  there  you  have  been 
No  peace  we  have  seen, 
So  Matty,  now  please  to  turn  out,  turn  out, 
So  Matty,  now  please  to  turn  out !  < 

******* 
Make  way  for  old  Tip !  turn  out,  turn  out ! 
Make  way  for  old  Tip,  turn  out ! 
'Tis  the  people's  decree, 
Their  choice  he  shall  be, 
So,  Martin  Van  Buren,  turn  out,  turn  out, 
So,  Martin  Van  Buren,  turn  out ! 

But  of  all  the  songs  ever  sung,  the  most  absurd  and  the  most  tell- 
ing, was  that  which  began  thus : 


LOO   CABIN    SONGS.  187 

What  has  caused  this  great  commotion-motion-motion 

Our  country  through  ? 
It  is  the  ball  a-rolling  on 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too  ; 
And  with  them  we  '11  beat  little  Van  ; 
Van,  Van,  Van  is  a  used-up  man, 
And  with  them  we  '11  beat  little  Van. 

This  song  had  two  advantages.  The  tune — half  chaunt,  half 
jig — was  adapted  to  bring  out  all  the  absurdities  of  the  words,  and, 
in  particular,  those  of  the  last  two  lines.  The  second  advantage 
was,  that  stanzas  could  be  multiplied  to  any  extent,  on  the  spot,  to 
suit  the  exigences  of  any  occasion.  For  example  : 

"  The  beautiful  girls,  God  bless  their  souls,  souls,  souls, 

The  country  through, 
Will  all,  to  a  man,  do  all  they  can 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too ; 
And  with  them,"  etc.,  etc. 

During  that  summer,  ladies  attended  the  mass  meetings  in  thou- 
sands, and  in  their  honor  the  lines  just  quoted  were  frequently  sung. 

These  few  extracts  from  the  Log  Cabin  show  the  nature  of  the 
element  in  which  our  editor  was  called  upon  to  work  in  the  hot 
months  of  1840.  His  own  interest  in  the  questions  at  issue  was  in- 
tense, and  his  labors  were  incessant  and  most  arduous.  He  wrote 
articles,  he  made  speeches,  he  sat  on  committees,  he  traveled, 
he  gave  advice,  he  suggested  plans;  while  he  had  two  news- 
papers on  his  hands,  and  a  load  of  debt  upon  his  shoulders.  His 
was  a  willing  servitude.  From  the  days  of  his  apprenticeship  he 
had  observed  the  course  of  '  Democratic'  administrations  with  dis- 
gust and  utter  disapproval,  and  he  had  borne  his  full  share  of  the 
consequences  of  their  bad  measures.  His  whole  soul  was  in  this 
contest.  He  fought  fairly  too.  His  answer  to  a  correspondent,  that 
'  articles  assailing  the  personal  character  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  or  any 
of  his  supporters  cannot  be  published  in  the  Cabin,'  was  in  advance 
of  the  politics  of  1840. 

One  scene,  if  it  could  be  portrayed  on  the  printed  page  as  visibly 
as  it  exists  in  the  memories  of  those  who  witnessed  it,  would  show, 


188  THE   LOG   CABIN. 

better  than  declaratory  words,  how  absorbed  Mr.  Greeley  was  in 
politics  during  this  famous  'campaign.'  It  is  a  funny  story,  and 
literally  true. 

Time, — Sunday  evening.  Scene, — the  parlor  of  a  friend's  house. 
Company, — numerous  and  political,  except  the  ladies,  who  are 
gracious  and  hospitable.  Mr.  Greeley  is  expected  to  tea,  but  does 
not  come,  and  the  meal  is  transacted  without  him.  Tea  over,  he 
arrives,  and  plunges  headlong  into  a  conversation  on  the  currency. 
The  lady  of  the  house  thinks  he 'had  better  take  some  tea,' but 
cannot  get  a  hearing  on  the  subject ;  is  distressed,  puts  the  question 
at  length,  and  has  her  invitation  hurriedly  declined ;  brushed  aside, 
in  fact,  with  a  wave  of  the  hand. 

"  Take  a  cruller,  any  way,"  said  she,  handing  him  a  cake-basket 
containing  a  dozen  or  so  of  those  unspeakable,  Dutch  indigestibles. 

The  expounder  of  the  currency,  dimly  conscious  that  a  large  ob- 
ject was  approaching  him,  puts  forth  his  hands,  still  vehemently 
talking,  and  takes,  not  a  cruller,  but  the  cake-basket,  and  deposits 
it  in  his  lap.  The  company  are  inwardly  convulsed,  and  some  of 
the  weaker  members  retire  to  the  adjoining  apartment,  the  ex- 
pounder continuing  his  harangue,  unconscious  of  their  emotions  or 
its  cause.  Minutes  elapse.  His  hands,  in  their  wandering  through 
the  air,  come  in  contact  with  the  topmost  cake,  which  they  take 
and  break.  He  begins  to  eat ;  and  eats  and  talks,  talks  and  eats, 
till  he  has  finished  a  cruller.  Then  he  feels  for  another,  and  eats 
that,  and  goes  on,  slowly  consuming  the  contents  of  the  basket,  till 
the  last  crum  is  gone.  The  company  look  on  amazed,  and  the  kind 
lady  of  the  house  fears  for  the  consequences.  She  had  heard  that 
cheese  is  an  antidote  to  indigestion.  Taking  the  empty  cake- 
basket  from  his  lap,  she  silently  puts  a  plate  of  cheese  in  its  place, 
hoping  that  instinct  will  guide  his  hand  aright.  The  experiment 
succeeds.  Gradually,  the  blocks  of  white  new  cheese  disappear. 
She  removes  the  plate.  No  ill  consequences  follow.  Those  who 
saw  this  sight  are  fixed  in  the  belief,  that  Mr.  Greeley  was  not 
then,  nor  has  since  become,  aware,  that  on  that  evening  he  par- 
took of  sustenance. 

The  reader,  perhaps,  has  concluded  that  the  prodigious  sale  of 
the  Log  Cabin  did  something  to  relieve  our  hero  from  his  pecuniary 
embarrassments.  Such  was  not  the  fact.  He  paid  some  debts, 


THE   CAKE-BASKET.  189 

but  he  incurred  others,  and  was  not,  for  any  week,  free  from 
anxiety.  The  price  of  the  paper  was  low,  and  its  unlooked-for  sale 
involved  the  proprietors  in  expenses  which  might  have  been  avoid- 
ed, or  much  lessened,  if  they  had  been  prepared  for  it.  The  mail- 
ing of  single  numbers  cost  a  hundred  dollars.  The  last  number  of 
the  campaign  series,  the  great  "  O  K"  number,  the  number  that 
was  all  staring  with  majorities,  and  capital  letters,  and  points  of 
admiration,  the  number  that  announced  the  certain  triumph  of  the 
Whigs,  and  carried  joy  into  a  thousand  Log  Cabins,  contained  a 
most  moving  "Appeal"  to  the  "Friends  who  owe  us."  It  was  in 
small  type,  and  in  a  corner  remote  from  the  victorious  columns.  It 
ran  thus  : — "  We  were  induced  in  a  few  instances  to  depart  from 
our  general  rule,  and  forward  the  first  series  of  the  Log  Cabin 
on  credit — having  in  almost  every  instance  a  promise,  that  the 
money  should  be  sent  us  before  the  first  of  November.  That 
time  has  passed,  and  we  regret  to  say,  that  many  of  those  prom- 
ises have  not  been  fulfilled.  To  those  who  owe  us,  therefore,  we 
are  compelled  to  say,  Friends !  we  need  our  money — our  paper- 
maker  needs  it !  and  has  a  right  to  ask  us  for  it.  The  low  price 
at  which  we  have  published  it,  forbids  the  idea  of  gain  from  this 
paper :  we  only  ask  the  means  of  paying  what  we  owe.  Once  for 
all,  we  implore  you  to  do  us  justice,  and  enable  us  to  do  the 
same."  This  tells  the  whole  story.  Not  a  word  need  be  added. 

The  Log  Cabin  was  designed  only  for  the  campaign,  and  it  was 
expected  to  expire  with  the  twenty-seventh  number.  The  zealous 
editor,  however,  desirous  of  presenting  the  complete  returns  of  the 
victory,  issued  an  extra  number,  and  sent  it  gratuitously  to  all  his 
subscribers.  This  number  announced,  also,  that  the  Log  Cabin 
would  be  resumed  in  a  few  weeks.  On  the  fifth  of  December  the 
new  series  began,  as  a  family  political  paper,  and  continued,  with 
moderate  success,  till  both  it  and  the  New  Yorker  were  merged  in 
the  Tribune. 

For  his  services  in  the  campaign — and  no  man  contributed  as 
much  to  its  success  as  he— Horace  Greeley  accepted  no  office  ; 
nor  did  he  even  witness  the  inauguration.  This  is  not  strange. 
But  it  is  somewhat  surprising  that  the  incoming  administration  had 
not  the  decency  to  offer  him  something.  Mr.  Fry  (W.  H.)  made  a 
speech  one  evening  at  a  political  meeting  in  Philadelphia.  The 


190  THE   LOG   CABIN. 

next  morning,  a  committee  waited  upon  him  to  know  for  what  of- 
fice he  intended  to  become  an  applicant.  "  Office  ?"  said  the  aston- 
ished composer — "  No  office."  "  "Why.  then,"  said  the  committee, 
*'  what  the  h — II  did  you  speak  last  night  for  ?"  Mr.  Greeley  had 
not  even  the  honor  of  a  visit  from  a  committee  of  this  kind. 

The  Lqg  Cabin,  however,  gave  him  an  immense  reputation  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  as  an  able  writer  and  a  zealous  politician — a 
reputation  which  soon  became  more  valuable  to  him  than  pecuniary 
capital.  The  Log  Cabin  of  April  3d  contained  the  intelligence  of 
General  Harrison's  death ;  and,  among  a  few  others,  the  following 
advertisement : 

"NEW   YOKE   TBIBUNE. 

"  On  Saturday,  the  tenth  day  of  April  instant,  the  Subscriber  will  publish 
the  first  number  of  a  New  Morning  Journal  of  Politics,  Literature,  and  Gen- 
eral Intelligence. 

"  The  TRIBUNE,  as  its  name  imports,  will  labor  to  advance  the  interests  of 
the  People,  and  to  promote  their  Moral,  Social,  and  Political  well-being.  The 
immoral  and  degrading  Police  Reports,  Advertisements  and  other  matter  which 
have  been  allowed  to  disgrace  the  columns  of  our  leading  Penny  Papers,  will 
be  carefully  excluded  from  this,  and  no  exertion  spared  to  render  it  worthy  of 
the  hearty  approval  of  the  virtuous  and  refined,  and  a  welcome  visitant  at  the 
family  fireside. 

"  Earnestly  believing  that  the  political  revolution  which  has  called  William 
Henry  Harrison  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  Nation  was  a  triumph  of 
Bight  Reason  and  Public  Good  over  Error  and  Sinister  Ambition,  the  Tribune 
will  give  to  the  New  Administration  a  frank  and  cordial,  but  manly  and  inde- 
pendent support,  judging  it  always  by  its  acts,  and  commending  those  only 
so  far  as  they  shall  seem  calculated  to  subserve  the  great  end  of  all  govern- 
ment— the  welfare  of  the  People. 

"  The  Tribune  will  be  published  every  morning  on  a  fair  royal  sheet — (size 
of  the  Log-Cabin  and  Evening  Signal) — and  transmitted  to  its  city  subscribers 
at  the  low  price  of  one  cent  per  copy.  Mail  subscribers,  $4  per  annum.  It 
will  contain  the  news  by  the  morning's  Southern  Mail,  which  is  contained  in  no 
other  Penny  Paper.  Subscriptions  are  respectfully  solicited  by 

HORACE  GREELEY,  30  ANN  ST. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

STAETS  THE  TRIBUNE. 

The  Capital — The  Daily  Press  of  New  York  in  1841 — The  Tribune  appears — The  Omens 
unpropitious— The  first  week— Conspiracy  to  put  down  the  Tribune— The  Tribune 
triumphs— Thomas  McElrath— The  Tribune  alive— Industry  of  the  Editors— Their 
independence — Horace  Greeley  and  John  Tyler — The  Tribune  a  Fixed  Fact. 

WHO  furnished  the  capital?  Horace  Greeley.  But  he  was 
scarcely  solvent  on  the  day  of  the  Tribune's  appearance.  True; 
and  yet  it  is  no  less  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  large  capital  required 
for  the  enterprise  was  supplied  by  him. 

A  large  capital  is  indispensable  for  the  establishment  of  a  good 
daily  paper ;  but  it  need  not  be  a  capital  of  money.  It  may  be  a 
capital  of  reputation,  credit,  experience,  talent,  opportunity.  Horace 
Greeley  was  trusted  and  admired  by  his  party,  and  by  many  of  the 
party  to  which  he  was  opposed.  In  his  own  circle,  he  was  known 
to  be  a  man  of  incorruptible  integrity — one  who  would  pay  his 
debts  at  any  and  at  every  sacrifice — one  who  was  quite  incapable  of 
contracting  an  obligation  which  he  was  not  confident  of  being  able 
to  discharge.  In  other  words,  his  credit  was  good.  He  had  talent 
and  experience.  Add  to  these  a  thousand  dollars  lent  him  by  a 
friend,  (Dudley  S.  Gregory,)  and  the  evident  need  there  was  of  just 
such  a  paper  as  the  Tribune  proved  to  be,  and  we  have  the  capital 
upon  which  the  Tribune  started.  All  told,  it  was  equivalent  to  a 
round  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  present  year,  1855,  there  are  two  hundred  and  three  peri- 
odicals published  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  which  twelve  are 
daily  papers.  In  the  year  1841,  the  number  of  periodicals  was  one 
hundred,  and  the  number  of  daily  papers  twelve.  The  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  New  York  American,  Express,  and  Commercial  Adver- 
tiser were  Whig  papers,  at  ten  dollars  a  year.  The  Evening  Post 
and  Journal  of  Commerce,  at  the  same  price,  leaned  to  the  '  Demo- 
cratic1 side  of  politics,  the  former  avowedly,  the  latter  not.  The 


192  STARTS   THE   TRIBUNE. 

Signal,  Tatler,  and  Star  were  cheap  papers,  the  first  two  neutral,  the 
latter  dubious.  The  Herald,  at  two  cents,  was — the  Herald !  The 
Sun,  a  penny  paper  of  immense  circulation,  was  affectedly  neutral, 
really  '  Democratic,'  and  very  objectionable  for  the  gross  character 
of  many  of  its  advertisements.  A  cheap  paper,  of  the  Whig  school 
of  politics,  did  not  exist.  On  the  10th  of  April,  1841,  the  Tribune 
appeared-r-a  paper  one-third  the  size  of  the  present  Tribune,  price 
one  cent;  office  No.  30  Ann-street;  Horace  Greeley,  editor  and 
proprietor,  assisted  in  the  department  of  literary  criticism,  the  fine 
arts,  and  general  intelligence,  by  H.  J.  Raymond.  Under  its  head- 
ing, the  new  paper  bore,  as  a  motto,  the  dying  words  of  Harrison: 

"  I  DESIRE  YOU  TO  UNDERSTAND  THE  TRUE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  GOVERN- 
MENT. I  WISH  THEM  CARRIED  OUT.  I  ASK  NOTHING  MORE." 

The  omens  were  not  propitious.  The  appallingly  sudden  death 
of  General  Harrison,  the  President  of  so  many  hopes,  the  first  of 
the  Presidents  who  had  died  in  office,  had  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
whole  country,  and  a  prophetic  doubt  over  the  prospects  of  the 
Whig  party. 

The  editor  watched  the  preparation  of  his  first  number  all  night, 
nervous  and  anxious,  withdrawing  this  article  and  altering  that,  and 
never  leaving  the  form  till  he  saw  it,  complete  and  safe,  upon  the 
press.  The  morning  dawned  sullenly  upon  the  town.  "  The  sleety 
atmosphere,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley,  long  after,  "  the  leaden  sky,  the 
unseasonable  wintriness,  the  general  gloom  of  that  stormy  day, 
which  witnessed  the  grand  though  mournful  pageant  whereby  our 
city  commemorated  the  blighting  of  a  nation's  hopes  in  the  most 
untimely  death  of  President  Harrison,  were  not  inaptly  miniatured 
in  his  own  prospects  and  fortunes.  Having  devoted  the  seven  pre- 
ceding years  almost  wholly  to  the  establishment  of  a  weekly  com- 
pend  of  literature  and  intelligence,  (The  New  Yorker,)  wherefrom, 
though  widely  circulated  and  warmly  praised,  he  had  received  no 
other  return  than  the  experience  and  wider  acquaintance  thence 
accruing,  he  entered  upon  his  novel  and  most  precarious  enterprise, 
most  slenderly  provided  with  the  external  means  of  commanding 
subsistence  and  success  in  its  prosecution.  With  no  partner  or  busi- 
ness associate,  with  inconsiderable  pecuniary  resources,  and  only  a 
promise  from  political  friends  of  aid  to  the  extent  of  two  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  but  one  half  was  ever  realized,  (and  that  long 


THE   TRIBUNE   APPEARS.  193 

since  repaid,  but  the  sense  of  obligation  to  the  far  from  wealthy 
friend  who  made  the  loan  is  none  the  less  fresh  and  ardent,)  he  un- 
dertook the  enterprise — at  all  times  and  under  any  circumstances 
hazardous — of  adding  one  more  to  the  already  amply  extensive  list 
of  daily  newspapers  issued  in  this  emporium,  where  the  current 
expenses  of  such  papers,  already  appalling,  were  soon  to  be  doubled 
by  rivalry,  by  stimulated  competition,  by  the  progress  of  business, 
the  complication  of  interests,  and  especially  by  the  general  diffusion 
of  the  electric  telegraph,  and  where  at  least  nineteen  out  of  every 
twenty  attempts  to  establish  a  new  daily  have  proved  disastrous 
failures.  Manifestly,  the  prospects  of  success  in  this  case  were  far 
from  flattering." 

The  Tribune  began  with  about  six  hundred  subscribers,  procured 
by  the  exertions  of  a  few  oT  the  editor's  personal  and  political 
friends.  Five  thousand  copies  of  the  first  number  were  printed,  and 
"  we  found  some  difficulty  in  giving  them  away,"  says  Mr.  Greeley 
in  the  article  just  quoted.  The  expenses  of  the  first  week  were 
five  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  ;  the  receipts,  ninety-two  dol- 
lars. A  sorry  prospect  for  an  editor  whose  whole  cash  capital  was 
a  thousand  dollars,  and  that  borrowed. 

But  the  Tribune  was  a  live  paper.  FIGHT  was  the  word  with  it 
from  the  start ;  FIGHT  has  been  the  word  ever  since  ;  FIGHT  is  the 
word  this  day !  If  it  had  been  let  alone,  it  would  not  have  died ;  its 
superiority  both  in  quantity  and  the  quality  of  its  matter  to  any  other 
of  the  cheap  papers  would  have  prevented  that  catastrophe  ;  but  its 
progress  was  amazingly  accelerated  in  the  first  days  of  its  existence 
by  the  efforts  of  an  enemy  to  put  it  down.  That  enemy  was  the 
Sun. 

"  The  publisher  of  the  Sun,"  wrote  Park  Benjamin  in  the  Even- 
ing Signal,  "  has,  during  the  last  few  days,  got  up  a  conspiracy  to 
crush  the  New  York  Tribune.  The  Tribune  was,  from  its  incep- 
tion, very  successful,  and,  in  many  instances,  persons  in  the  habit  of 
taking  the  Sun,  stopped  that  paper — wisely  preferring  a  sheet  which 
gives  twice  the  amount  of  reading  matter,  and  always  contains 
the  latest  intelligence.  This  fact  afforded  sufficient  evidence  to 
Beach,  as  it  did  to  all  others  who  were  cognizant  of  the  circum- 
stances, that  the  Tribune  would,  before  the  lapse  of  many  weeks, 
supplant  the  Sun.  To  prevent  this,  and,  if  possible,  to  destroy  the 


194  STARTS   THE   TRIBUNE, 

circulation  of  the  Tribune  altogether,  fin  attempt  was  made  to  bribe 
the  carriers  to  give  up  their  routes  ;  fortunately  this  succeeded  only 
in  the  cases  of  two  men  who  were  likewise  carriers  of  the  Sun. 
In  the  next  place,  all  the  newsmen  were  threatened  with  being  de~ 
prived  of  the  Sun,  if,  in  any  instance,  they  were  found  selling  the 
Tribune.  But  these  efforts  were  not  enough  to  gratify  Beach.  He 
instigated  boys  in  his  office,  or  others,  to  whip  the  boys  engaged 
in  selling  the  Tribune.  No  sooner  was  this  fact  ascertained  at  the 
office  of  the  Tribune,  than  young  men  were  sent  to  defend  the 
sale  of  that  paper.  They  had  not  been  on  their  station  long,  be- 
fore a  boy  from  the  Sun  office  approached  and  began  to  flog  the 
lad  with  the  Tribune ;  retributory  measures  were  instantly  resorted 
to ;  but,  before  a  just  chastisement  was  inflicted,  Beach  himself, 
and  a  man  in  his  employ,  came  out  to  sustain  their  youthful  emis- 
sary. The  whole  matter  will,  we  understand,  be  submitted  to  the 
proper  magistrates." 

The  public  took  up  the  quarrel  with  great  spirit,  and  this  was  one 
reason  of  the  Tribune's  speedy  and  striking  success.  For  three 
weeks  subscribers  poured  in  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  a  day ! 
It  began  its  fourth  week  with  an  edition  of  six  thousand ;  its  sev- 
enth week,  with  eleven  thousand,  which  was  the  utmost  that  could 
be  printed  with  its  first  press.  The  advertisements  increased  in 
proportion.  The  first  number  contained  four  columns ;  the  twelfth, 
nine  columns ;  the  hundredth,  thirteen  columns.  Triumph !  tri- 
umph !  nothing  but  triumph !  New  presses  capable  of  printing 
the  astounding  number  of  thirty-five  hundred  copies  an  hour  are 
duly  announced.  The  indulgence  of  advertisers  is  besought  *  for 
this  day  only  ;'  '  to-morrow,  their  favors  shall  appear.'  The  price 
of  advertising  was  raised  from  four  to  six  cents  a  line.  Letters  of 
approval  came  by  every  mail.  "  We  have  a  number  of  requests," 
said  the  Editor  in  an  early  paragraph,  "  to  blow  up  all  sorts  of 
abuses,  which  shall  be  attended  to  as  fast  as  possible."  In  another, 
he  returns  his  thanks  "  to  the  friends  of  this  paper  and  the  princi- 
ples it  upholds,  for  the  addition  of  over  a  thousand  substantial 
names  to  its  subscription  list  last  week."  Again :  "  The  Sun  is  rush- 
ing rapidly  to  destruction.  It  has  lost  even  the  grovelling  sagacity, 
the  vulgar  sordid  instinct  with  which  avarice  once  gifted  it." 
Again:  "Everything  appears  to  work  well  with  us.  True,  we 


CONSPIRACY   TO   PUT   DOWN   THE    TRIBUNE.  195 

have  not  heard  (except  through  the  veracious  Sun)  from  any  gen- 
tlemen proposing  to  give  us  a  $2,500  press  ;  but  if  any  gentlemen 
have  such  an  intention,  and  proceed  to  put  it  in  practice,  the  pub- 
lic may  rest  assured  that  they  will  not  be  ashamed  of  the  act,  while 
we  shall  be  most  eager  to  proclaim  it  and  acknowledge  the  kind- 
ness. But  even  though  we  wait  for  such  a  token  of  good-will  and 
sympathy  until  the  Sun  shall  cease  to  be  the  slimy  and  venomous 
instrument  of  loco-focoism  it  is,  Jesuitical  and  deadly  in  politics  and 
grovelling  in  morals — we  shall  be  abundantly  sustained  and  cheered 
by  the  support  we  are  regularly  receiving."  Editors  wrote  in  the 
English  language  in  those  days.  Again  :  "  The  Sun  of  yesterday 
gravely  informed  its  readers  that  '  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Land 
Bill  can  pass  the  House.''  The  Tribune  of  the  same  date  contained 
the  news  of  the  passage  of  that  very  bill!"  Triumph!  saucy  tri- 
umph !  nothing  but  triumph ! 

One  thing  only  was  wanting  to  secure  the  Tribune's  brilliant  suc- 
cess ;  and  that  was  an  efficient  business  partner.  Just  in  the  nick 
of  time,  the  needed  and  predestined  man  appeared,  the  man  of  all 
others  for  the  duty  required.  On  Saturday  morning,  July  31st,  the 
following  notices  appeared  under  the  editorial  head  on  the  second 
page: 

The  undersigned  has  great  pleasure  in  announcing  to  his  friends  and  the 
public  that  he  has  formed  a  copartnership  with  THOMAS  McELRATH,  and 
that  THE  TRIBUNE  will  hereafter  be  published  by  himself  and  Mr.  M.  under 
the  firm  of  GREELEY  &  McELRATH.  The  principal  Editorial  charge  of 
the  paper  will  still  rest  with  the  subscriber  ;  while  the  entire  business  man- 
agement of  the  concern  henceforth  devolves  upon  his  partner.  This  arrange- 
ment, while  it  relieves  the  undersigned  from  a  large  portion  of  the  labors  and 
cares  which  have  pressed  heavily  upon  him  for  the  last  four  months,  assures 
to  the  paper  efficiency  and  strength  in  a  department  where  they  have  hitherto 
been  needed ;  and  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  the  trust  that  the  accession  to  its 
conduct  of  a  gentleman  who  has  twice  been  honored  with  their  suffrages  for 
an  important  station,  will  strengthen  THE  TRIBUNE  in  the  confidence  and 
affections  of  the  Whigs  of  New  York.  Respectfully, 

July  31st.  HORACE  GREELEY. 

The  undersigned,  in  connecting  himself  with  the  conduct  of  a  public  jour- 
nal, invokes  a  continuance  of  that  courtesy  and  good  feeling  which  has  been 
extended  to  him  by  his  fellow-citizens.  Having  heretofore  received  evidence 
of  kindness  and  regard  from  the  conductors  of  the  Whig  press  of  this  city, 


196  STARTS   THE   TRIBUNE. 

and  rejoicing  in  the  friendship  of  most  oJ  them,  it  will  be  his  aim  in  his  new 
vocation  to  justify  that  kindness  and  strengthen  and  increase  those  friendships. 
His  hearty  concurrence  in  the  principles,  Political  and  Moral,  on  which  THE 
TRIBUNE  has  thus  far  been  conducted,  has  been  a  principal  incitement  to  the 
connection  here  announced ;  and  the  statement  of  this  fact  will  preclude  the 
necessity  of  any  special  declaration  of  opinions.  With  gratitude  for  past 
favors,  and  an  anxious  desire  to  merit  a  continuance  of  regard,  he  remains, 
The  Public's  humble  servant,  THOMAS  McELRATH. 

A  strict  disciplinarian,  a  close  calculator,  a  man  of  method  and 
order,  experienced  in  business,  Mr.  McElrath  possessed  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  the  very  qualities  in  which  the  editor  of  the  Tribune 
was  most  deficient.  Roll  Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas  McElrath 
into  one,  and  the  result  would  be,  a  very  respectable  approximation 
to  a  Perfect  Man.  The  two,  united  in  partnership,  have  been  able 
to  produce  a  very  respectable  approximation  to  a  perfect  newspa- 
per. As  Damon  and  Pythias  are  the  types  of  perfect  friendship, 
so  may  Greeley  and  McElrath  be  of  a  perfect  partnership ;  and  one 
may  say,  with  a  sigh  at  the  many  discordant  unions  the  world  pre- 
sents, Oh !  that  every  Greeley  could  find  his  McElrath !  and  bless- 
ed is  the  McElrath  that  finds  his  Greeley  ! 

Under  Mr.  McElrath's  direction,  order  and  efficiency  were  soon 
introduced  into  the  business  departments  of  the  Tribune  office.  It 
became,  and  has  ever  since  been,  one  of  the  best-conducted  news- 
paper establishments  in  the  world.  Early  in  the  fall,  the  New 
Yorker  and  Log  Cabin  were  merged  into  the  Weekly  Tribune,  the 
first  number  of  which  appeared  on  the  20th  of  September.  The 
concern,  thus  consolidated,  knew,  thenceforth,  nothing  but  prosper- 
ity. The  New  Yorker  had  existed  seven  years  and  a  half;  the  Log 
Cabin,  eighteen  months. 

The  Tribune,  I  repeat,  was  a  live  paper.  It  was,  also,  a  variously 
interesting  one.  Its  selections,  which  in  the  early  volumes  occupied 
several  columns  daily,  were  of  high  character.  It  gave  the  philos- 
ophers of  the  Dial  an  ample  hearing,  and  many  an  appreciating 
notice.  It  made  liberal  extracts  from  Carlyle,  Cousin,  and  others, 
whose  works  contained  the  spirit  of  the  New  Time.  The  eighth 
number  gave  fifteen  songs  from  a  new  volume  of  Thomas  Moore. 
Barnaby  Budge  was  published  entire  in  the  first  volume.  Mr.  Ray- 
mond's notices  of  new  books  were  a  conspicuous  and  interesting  fea- 


ITS    INDEPENDENCE.  197 

ture.  Still  more  so,  were  his  clear  and  able  sketches  and  reports  of 
public  lectures.  In  November,  the  Tribune  gave  a  fair  and  cour- 
teous report  of  the  Millerite  Convention.  About  the  same  time,  Mr. 
Greeley  himself  reported  the  celebrated  McCleod  trial  at  Utica, 
sending  on  from  four  to  nine  columns  a  day. 

Amazing  was  the  industry  of  the  editors.  Single  numbers  of  the 
Tribune  contained  eighty  editorial  paragraphs.  Mr.  Greeley's  aver- 
age day's  work  was  three  columns,  equal  to  fifteen  pages  of  foolscap ; 
and  the  mere  writing  which  an  editor  does,  is  not  half  his  daily 
labor.  In  May,  appeared  a  series  of  articles  on  Ketrenchment  and 
Reform  in  the  City  Government,  a  subject  upon  which  the  Tribune 
has  since  shed  a  considerable  number  of  barrels  of  ink.  In  the 
same  month,  it  disturbed  a  hornet's  nest  by  saying,  that  "  the  whole 
moral  atmosphere  of  the  Theatre,  as  it  actually  exists  among  us,  is 
in  our  judgment  unwholesome,  and  therefore,  while  we  do  not  pro- 
pose to  war  upon  it,  we  seek  no  alliance  with  it,  and  cannot  con- 
scientiously urge  our  readers  to  visit  it,  as  would  be  expected  if 
we  were  to  solicit  and  profit  by  its  advertising  patronage." 

Down  came  all  the  hornets  of  the  press.  The  Sun  had  the  effront- 
ery to  assert,  in  reply,  that  "  most  of  the  illegitimate  births  in  New 
York  owe  their  origin  to  acquaintances  formed  at  'Evening 
Churches,'  and  that  '  Class-meetings '  have  done  more  to  people  the 
House  of  Refuge  than  twenty  times  the  number  of  theatres."  This 
discussion  might  have  been  turned  to  great  advantage  by  the 
Tribune,  if  it  had  not,  with  obstinate  honesty,  given  the  re- 
ligious world  a  rebuff  by  asserting  its  right  to  advertise  heretical 
books. 

"  As  to  our  friend,"  said  the  Tribune,  "  who  complains  of  the 
advertising  of  certain  Theological  works  which  do  not  square  with 
his  opinions,  we  must  tell  him  plainly  that  he  is  unreasonable.  No 
other  paper  that  we  ever  heard  of  establishes  any  test  of  the  Or- 
thodoxy of  works  advertised  in  its  columns;  even  the  Commercial 
Advertiser  and  Journal  of  Commerce  advertise  for  the  very  sect 
proscribed  by  him.  If  one  were  to  attempt  a  discrimination,  where 
would  he  end  ?  One  man  considers  Universalism  immoral ;  but 
another  is  equally  positive  that  Arminianism  is  so ;  while  a  third 
holds  the  same  bad  opinion  of  Calvinism.  Who  shall  decide  be- 
tween them  ?  Certainly  not  the  Editor  of  a  daily  newspaper,  un- 


198  STARTS    THE    TRIBUNE. 

less  he  prints  it  avowedly  under  the  patronage  of  a  particular  sect. 
Our  friend  inquires  whether  we  should  advertise  infidel  books  also. 
We  answer,  that  if  any  one  should  offer  an  advertisement  of  lewd, 
ribald,  indecent,  blasphemous  or  law-prohibited  books,  we  should 
claim  the  right  to  reject  it.  But  a  work  no  otherwise  objection- 
able than  as  controverting  the  Christian  record  and  doctrine,  would 
not  be  objected  to  by  us.  True  Christianity  neither  fears  refutation 
nor  dreads  discussion — or,  as  JEFFERSON  has  forcibly  said,  '  Error 
of  opinion  may  be  tolerated  where  Keason  is  left  free  to  combat 
it.'" 

In  politics,  the  Tribune  was  strongly,  yet  not  blindly  whig.  It 
appealed,  in  its  first  number,  to  the  whig  party  for  support.  The 
same  number  expressed  the  decided  opinion,  that  Mr.  Tyler  would 
prove  to  be,  as  president,  all  that  the  whigs  desired,  and  that 
opinion  the  Tribune  was  one  of  the  last  to  yield.  In  September 
it  justified  Daniel  Webster  in  retaining  office,  after  the  '  treachery' 
of  Tyler  was  manifest,  and  when  all  his  colleagues  had  resigned  in 
disgust.  It  justified  him  on  the  ground  that  he  could  best  bring  to 
a  conclusion  the  Ashburton  negotiations.  This  defence  of  Web- 
ster was  deeply  offensive  to  the  more  violent  whigs,  and  it  remain- 
ed a  pretext  of  attack  on  the  Tribune  for  several  years.  With 
regard  to  his  course  in  the  Tyler  controversy,  Mr.  Greeley  wrote 
in  1845  a  long  explanation,  of  which  the  material  passage  was  as 
follows: — "In  December,  1841,  I  visited  Washington  upon  assur- 
ances that  John  Tyler  and  his  advisers  were  disposed  to  return  to 
the  Whig  party,  and  that  I  could  be  of  service  in  bringing  about  a 
complete  reconciliation  between  the  Administration  and  the  Whigs 
in  Congress  and  in  the  country.  I  never  proposed  to  '  connect 
myself  with  the  cause  of  the  Administration,'  but  upon  the  under- 
standing that  it  should  be  heartily  and  faithfully  a  WHIG  Adminis- 
tration. *  *  Finally,  I  declined  utterly  and  absolutely,  to  '  con- 
nect myself  with  the  cause  of  the  Administration'  the  moment  I 
became  satisfied,  as  I  did  during  that  visit,  that  the  Chief  of  the 
Government  did  not  desire  a  reconciliation,  upon  the  basis  of  sus- 
taining Whig  principles  and  Whig  measures,  with  the  party  he 
had  so  deeply  wronged,  but  was  treacherously  coqueting  with  Lo- 
co-Focoism,  and  fooled  with  the  idea  of  a  re-election." 

Against  Repudiation,  then  an  exciting  topic,  the  Tribune  went 


THE    TRIBUNE   AND   FOURIERISM.  199 

dead  in  many  a  telling  article.     In  behalf  of  Protection  to  Ameri- 
can Industry,  the  editor  wrote  columns  upon  columns. 

In  a  word,  the  Tribune  was  equal  to  its  opportunity ;  it  lived 
up  to  its  privileges.  In  every  department  it  steadily  and  strikingly 
improved  throughout  the  year.  It  began  its  second  year  with 
twelve  thousand  subscribers,  and  a  daily  average  of  thirteen  col- 
umns of  advertisements.  The  Tribune  was  a  Fixed  Fact. 

The  history  of  a  daily  paper  is  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is 
obviously  impossible  in  the  compass  of  a  work  like  this  to  give 
anything  like  a  complete  history  of  the  Tribune.  For  that  pur- 
pose ten  octavo  volumes  would  be  required,  and  most  interesting 
volumes  they  would  be.  All  that  I  can  do  is  to  select  the  leading 
events  of  its  history  which  were  most  intimately  connected  with 
the  history  of  its  editor,  and  dwell  with  some  minuteness  upon 
them,  connecting  them  together  only  by  a  slender  thread  of  nar- 
rative, and  omitting  even  to  mention  many  things  of  real  interest. 
It  will  be  convenient,  too,  to  group  together  in  separate  chapters 
events  similar  in  their  nature,  but  far  removed  from  one  another 
in  the  time  of  their  occurrence.  Indeed,  I  am  overwhelmed  with 
the  mass  of  materials,  and  must  struggle  out  as  best  I  can. 

A  great  book  is  a  great  evil,  says  the  Greek  Header.  This  book 
was  fore-ordained  to  be  a  small  one. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE    TRIBUNE    AND    FOURIERISM. 

What  made  Horace  Greeley  a  Socialist— The  hard  winter  of  1838— Albert  Brisbane— 
The  subject  broached— Series  of  articles  by  Mr.  Brisbane  begun— Thair  effect—  Cry 
of  Mad  Dug — Discussion  between  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  J.  Raymond — How  it 
arose — Abstract  of  it  in  a  conversational  form. 

THE  editor  of  the  Tribune  was  a  Socialist  years  before  the  Tri- 
bune came  into  existence. 

The  winter  of  1838  was  unusually  severe.    The  times  were  hard, 


200  THE    TRIBUNE    AND    FOURIERISM. 

fuel  and  food  were  dear,  many  thousands  of  men  and  women  were 
out  of  employment,  and  there  was  general  distress.  As  the  cold 
months  wore  slowly  on,  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  became  so  aggra- 
vated, and  the  number  of  the  unemployed  increased  to  such  a  de- 
gree, that  the  ordinary  means  were  inadequate  to  relieve  even  those 
who  were  destitute  of  every  one  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Some 
died  of  starvation.  Some  were  frozen  to  death.  Many,  through 
exposure  and  privation,  contracted  fatal  diseases.  A  large  number, 
who  had  never  before  known  want,  were  reduced  to  beg.  Re- 
spectable mechanics  were  known  to  offer  their  services  as  waiters 
in  eating-houses  for  their  food  only.  There  never  had  been  such  a 
time  of  suffering  in  New  York  before,  and  there  has  not  been  since. 
Extraordinary  measures  were  taken  by  the  comfortable  classes  to 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  their  unfortunate  fellow-citizens.  Meet- 
ings were  held,  subscriptions  were  made,  committees  were  appoint- 
ed ;  and  upon  one  of  the  committees  Horace  Greeley  was  named  to 
serve,  and  did  serve,  faithfully  and  laboriously,  for  many  weeks. 
The  district  which  his  committee  had  in  charge  was  the  Sixth  Ward, 
the  '  bloody'  Sixth,  the  squalid,  poverty-stricken  Sixth,  the  pool  into 
which  all  that  is  worst  in  this  metropolis  has  a  tendency  to  reel  and 
slide.  It  was  his  task,  and  that  of  his  colleagues,  to  see  that  no  one 
froze  or  starved  in  that  forlorn  and  polluted  region.  More  than  this 
they  could  not  do,  for  the  subscriptions,  liberal  as  they  were,  were 
not  more  than  sufficient  to  relieve  actual  and  pressing  distress.  In 
the  better  parts  of  the  Sixth  Ward  a  large  number  of  mechanics 
lived,  whose  cry  was,  not  for  the  bread  and  the  fuel  of  charity,  but 
for  WORK  !  Charity  their  honest  souls  disdained.  Its  food  choked 
them,  its  fire  chilled  them.  Work,  give  us  work !  was  their  eager, 
passionate  demand. 

All  this  Horace  Greeley  heard  and  saw.  He  was  a  young  man — 
not  quite  twenty-six — compassionate  to  weakness,  generous  to  a 
fault.  He  had  known  what  it  was  to  beg  for  work,  from  shop  to 
shop,  from  town  to  town  ;  and,  that  very  winter,  he  was  struggling 
with  debt,  at  no  safe  distance  from  bankruptcy.  Why  must  these 
things  be  ?  Are  they  inevitable  ?  Will  they  always  be  inevitable  ? 
Is  it  in  human  wisdom  to  devise  a  remedy  ?  in  human  virtue  to  ap- 
ply it  ?  Can  the  beneficent  God  have  designed  this,  who,  with  such 
wonderful  profusion,  has  provided  for  the  wants,  tastes,  and  luxuries 


ALBERT   BRISBANE.  201 

of  all  his  creatures,  and  for  a  hundred  times  as  many  creatures  as 
yet  have  lived  at  the  same  time  ?  Such  questions  Horace  Greeley 
pondered,  in  silence,  in  the  depths  of  his  heart,  during  that  winter 
of  misery. 

From  Paris  came  soon  the  calm,  emphatic  answer,  These  things 
need  NOT  be !  They  are  due  alone  to  the  short-sightedness  and  in- 
justice of  man !  Albert  Brisbane  brought  the  message.  Horace 
Greeley  heard  and  believed  it.  He  took  it  to  his  heart.  It  became 
a  part  of  him. 

Albert  Brisbane  was  a  young  gentleman  of  liberal  education,  the 
son  of  wealthy  parents.  His  European  tour  included,  of  course,  a 
residence  at  Paris,  where  the  fascinating  dreams  of  Fourier  were 
the  subject  of  conversation.  He  procured  the  works  of  that  ami- 
able and  noble-minded  man,  read  them  with  eager  interest,  and  be- 
came completely  convinced  that  his  captivating  theories  were  capa- 
ble of  speedy  realization — not,  perhaps,  in  slow  and  conservative 
Europe,  but  in  progressive  and  unshackled  America.  He  returned 
home  a  Fourierite,  and  devoted  himself  with  a  zeal  and  disinterest- 
edness that  are  rare  in  the  class  to  which  he  belonged,  and  that  in 
any  class,  cannot  be  too  highly  praised,  to  the  dissemination  of  the 
doctrines  in  which  he  believed.  He  wrote  essays  and  pamphlets. 
He  expounded  Fourierism  in  conversation.  He  started  a  magazine 
called  the  Future,  devoted  to  the  explanation  of  Fourier's  plans, 
published  by  Greeley  &  Co.  He  delivered  lectures.  In  short,  he 
did  all  that  a  man  could  do  to  make  known  to  his  fellow  men  what 
he  believed  it  became  them  to  know.  He  made  a  few  converts, 
but  only  a  few,  till  the  starting  of  the  Tribune  gave  him  access  to 
the  public  ear. 

Horace  Greeley  made  no  secret  of  his  conversion  to  Fourierism. 
On  the  contrary,  he  avowed  it  constantly  in  private,  and  occasion- 
ally in  public  print,  though  never  in  his  own  paper  till  towards  the 
end  of  the  Tribune's  first  year.  His  native  sagacity  taught  him  that 
before  Fourierism  could  be  realized,  a  complete  revolution  in  pub- 
lic sentiment  must  be  effected,  a  revolution  which  would  require 
many  years  of  patient  effort  on  the  part  of  its  advocates. 

The  first  mention  of  Mr.  Brisbane  and  Fourierism  in  the  Tribune, 
appeared  October  21st,  1841.  It  was  merely  a  notice  of  one  of 
Mr.  Brisbane's  lectures : 

9* 


202  THE    TRIBUNE   AND   FOUEIERISM. 

"  Mr.  A.  Brisbane  delivered  a  lecture  at  the  Stuyvesant  Institute  last  evening, 
upon  the  Genius  of  Christianity  considered  in  its  bearing  on  the  Social  Insti- 
tutions and  Terrestrial  Destiny  of  the  Human  Race.  He  contended  that  the 
mission  of  Christianity  upon  earth  has  hitherto  been  imperfectly  understood, 
and  that  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  carried  into  practical  effect,  would  free  the 
world  of  Want,  Misery,  Temptation  and  Crime.  This,  Mr.  B.  believes,  will  be 
effected  by  a  system  of  Association,  or  the  binding  up  of  indiridual  and  fam- 
ily interests  in  Social  and  Industrial  Communities,  wherein  all  faculties  may 
be  developed,  all  energies  usefully  employed,  all  legitimate  desires  satisfied, 
and  idleness,  want,  temptation  and  crime  be  annihilated.  In  such  Associa- 
tions, individual  property  will  be  maintained,  the  family  be  held  sacred,  and 
every  inducement  held  out  to  a  proper  ambition.  Mr.  B.  will  lecture  hereafter 
on  the  practical  details  of  the  system  of  Fourier,  of  whom  he  is  a  zealous  dis- 
ciple, and  we  shall  then  endeavor  to  give  a  more  clear  and  full  account  of  his 
doctrines." 

A  month  later,  the  Tribune  copied  a  flippant  and  sneering  arti- 
cle from  the  London  Times,  on  the  subject  of  Fourierisrn  in  France. 
In  his  introductory  remarks  the  editor  said : 

"  We  have  written  something,  and  shall  yet  write  much  more,  in  illustra- 
tion and  advocacy  of  the  great  Social  revolution  which  our  age  is  destined  to 
commence,  in  rendering  all  useful  Labor  at  once  attractive  and  honorable, 
and  banishing  Want  and  all  consequent  degradation  from  the  globe.  The 
germ  of  this  revolution  is  developed  in  the  writings  of  Charles  Fourier,  a  phil- 
anthropic and  observing  Frenchman,  who  died  in  1837,  after  devoting  thirty 
years  of  a  studious  and  unobtrusive  life  to  inquiries,  at  once  patient  and  pro- 
found, into  the  causes  of  the  great  mass  of  Social  evils  which  overwhelm  Hu- 
manity, and  the  true  means  of  removing  them.  These  means  he  proves  to  be 
a  system  of  Industrial  and  Household  Association,  on  the  principle  of  Joint 
Stock  Investment,  whereby  Labor  will  be  ennobled  and  rendered  attractive 
and  universal,  Capital  be  offered  a  secure  and  lucrative  investment,  and  Tal- 
ent and  Industry  find  appropriate,  constant  employment,  and  adequate  re- 
ward, while  Plenty,  Comfort,  and  the  best  means  of  Intellectual  and  Moral 
Improvement  is  guaranteed  to  all,  regardless  of  former  acquirements  or  con- 
dition. This  grand,  benignant  plan  is  fully  developed  in  the  various  works 
of  M.  Fourier,  which  are  abridged  in  the  single  volume  on  '  The  Social  Des- 
tiny of  Man,'  by  Mr.  A.  Brisbane,  of  this  State.  Some  fifteen  or  sixteen  other 
works  in  illustration  and  defense  of  the  system  have  been  given  to  the  world, 
by  Considerant,  Chevalier,  Paget,  and  other  French  writers,  and  by  Hugh  Do- 
herty,  Dr.  H.  McCormack,  and  others  in  English.  A  tri- weekly  journal  ('  La 
Phalange'}  devoted  to  the  system,  is  published  by  M.  Victor  Considerant  in 


SERIES    OF    ARTICLES    BY    MR.  BRISBANE    BEGUN.  203 

Paris,  and  another  (the  'London  Phalanx J)  oy  Hugh  Doherty,  in  London, 
each  ably  edited." 

Early  in  1842,  a  number  of  gentlemen  associated  themselves  to- 
gether for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  schemes  of  Fourier  fully  and 
prominently  before  the  public;  and  to  this  end,  they  purchased  the 
right  to  occupy  one  column  daily  on  the  first  page  of  the  Tribune 
with  an  article,  or  articles,  on  the  subject,  from  the  pen  of  Mr. 
Brisbane.  The  first  of  these  articles  appeared  on  the  first  of  March, 
1842,  and  continued,  with  some  interruptions,  at  first  daily,  after- 
wards three  times  a  week,  till  about  the  middle  of  1844,  when  Mr. 
Brisbane  went  again  to  Europe.  The  articles  were  signed  with  the 
letter  B,  and  were  known  to  be  communicated.  They  were  calm 
in  tone,  clear  in  exposition.  At  first,  they  seem  to  have  attracted 
little  attention,  and  less  opposition.  They  were  regarded  (as  far  as 
my  youthful  recollection  serves)  in  the  light  of  articles  to  be  skip- 
ped, and  by  most  of  the  city  readers  of  the  Tribune,  I  presume, 
they  were  skipped  with  the  utmost  regularity,  and  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course.  Occasionally,  however,  the  subject  was  alluded  to  edi- 
torially, and  every  such  allusion  was  of  a  nature  to  be  read.  Grad- 
ually, Fourierism  became  one  of  the  topics  of  the  time.  Gradually 
certain  editors  discovered  that  Fourierism  was  unchristian.  Grad- 
ually, the  cry  of  Mad  Dog  arose.  Meanwhile,  the  articles  of  Mr. 
Brisbane  were  having  their  effect  upon  the  People. 

In  May,  1843,  Mr.  Greeley  wrote,  and  with  perfect  truth : 

"  The  Doctrine  of  Association  is  spreading  throughout  the  country  with  a 
rapidity  which  we  did  not  anticipate,  and  of  which  we  had  but  little  hope. 
We  receive  papers  from  nearly  all  parts  of  the  Northern  and  Western  States, 
and  some  from  the  South,  containing  articles  upon  Association,  in  which  gen- 
eral views  and  outlines  of  the  System  are  given.  They  speak  of  the  subject 
as  one  '  which  is  calling  public  attention,'  or,  '  about  which  so  much  is  now 
said,'  or,  '  which  is  a  good  deal  spoken  of  in  this  part  of  the  country,'  <fcc., 
showing  that  our  Principles  are  becoming  a  topic  of  public  discussion.  From 
the  rapid  progress  of  our  Doctrines  during  the  past  year,  we  look  forward 
with  hope  to  their  rapid  continued  dissemination.  We  feel  perfectly  confident 
that  never,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  has  a  philosophical  doctrine,  or  the  p'ar 
of  a  great  reform,  spread  with  the  rapidity  which  the  Doctrine  of  Associatior. 
has  spread  in  the  United  States  for  the  last  year  or  two.  There  are  now  a 
large  number  of  papers,  and  quite  a  number  of  lecturers  in  various  parts  of 


204  THE    TRIBUNE    AND    FOURIERISM. 

the  country,  who  are  lending  their  efforts  to  the  cause,  so  that  the  onward 
movement  must  be  greatly  accelerated. 

"  Small  Associations  are  springing  up  rapidly  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. The  Sylvania  Association  in  Pike  country,  Pa.,  is  now  in  operation ; 
about  seventy  persons  are  on  the  domain,  erecting  buildings,  &c.,  and  prepar- 
ing for  the  reception  of  other  members. 

"  An  Association  has  been  organized  in  Jefferson  county.  Our  friend,  A. 
M.  Watson,  is  at  the  head  of  it;  he  has  been  engaged  for  the  last  three  years 
in  spreading  the  principles  in  that  part  of  the  State,  and  the  result  is  the 
formation  of  an  Association.  Several  farmers  have  put  in  their  farms  and 
taken  stock ;  by  this  means  the  Domain  has  been  obtained.  About  three 
hundred  persons,  we  are  informed,  are  on  the  lands.  They  have  a  very  fine 
quarry  on  their  Domain,  and  they  intend,  among  the  branches  of  Industry 
which  they  will  pursue,  to  take  contracts  for  erecting  buildings  out  of  the 
Association.  They  are  now  erecting  a  banking-house  in  Watertown,  near 
which  the  Association  is  located. 

"  Efforts  are  making  in  various  parts  of  this  State,  in  Vermont,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Indiana,  and  Illinois,  to  establish  Associations,  which  will  probably 
be  successful  in  the  course  of  the  present  year.  We  have  heard  of  these 
movements;  there  may  be  others  of  which  we  are  not  informed." 

About  the  same  time,  he  gave  a  box  on  the  ear  to  the  editors  who 
wrote  of  Fourierism  in  a  hostile  spirit : — "  The  kindness  of  our  friends 
of  the  New  York  Express,  Eochester  Evening  Post,  and  sundry 
other  Journals  which  appear  inclined  to  wage  a  personal  controversy 
with  us  respecting  Fourierism,  (the  Express  without  knowing  how  to 
spell  the  word,)  is  duly  appreciated.  Had  we  time  and  room  for 
disputation  on  that  subject,  we  would  prefer  opponents  who  would 
not  be  compelled  to  confess  frankly  or  betray  clearly  their  utter 
ignorance  of  the  matter,  whatever  might  be  their  manifestations  of 
personal  pique  or  malevolence  in  unfair  representations  of  the  little 
they  do  understand.  We  counsel  our  too  belligerent  friends  to  pos- 
sess their  souls  in  patience,  and  not  be  too  eager  to  rival  the  for- 
tune of  him  whose  essay  proving  that  steamships  could  not  cross 
the  Atlantic  happened  to  reach  us  in  the  first  steamship  that  did 
cross  it.  '  The  proof  of  the  pudding '  is  not  found  in  wrangling 
about  it." 

We  also  find,  occasionally,  a  paragraph  in  the  Tribune  like  this : 
u  T.  W.  Whitley  and  H.  Greeley  will  address  such  citizens  of  New- 
ark as  choose  to  hear  them  on  the  subject  of  '  Association '  at  7-£ 


DISCUSSION  BETWEEN  H.  GREELEY  AND  H.  J.  RAYMOND.      205 

o'clock  this  evening  at  the  Relief  Hall,  rear  of  J,  M.  Quimby's  Re- 
pository." 

Too  fast.  Too  fast.  I  need  not  detail  the  progress  of  Fourier- 
ism — the  many  attempts  made  to  establish  Associations — the  failure 
of  all  of  them  but  one,  which  still  exists — the  ruin  that  ensued  to 
many  worthy  men — the  ridicule  with  which  the  Associationists  were 
assailed — the  odium  excited  in  many  minds  against  the  Tribune — 
the  final  relinquishment  of  the  subject.  All  this  is  perfectly  well 
known  to  the  people  of  this  country. 

Let  us  come,  at  once,  to  the  grand  climax  of  the  Tribune's  Fou- 
rierism,  the  famous  discussion  of  the  subject  between  Horace  Gree- 
ley  and  H.  J.  Raymond,  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  in  the  year 
1846.  That  discussion  finished  Fourierism  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Raymond  had  left  the  Tribune,  and  joined  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  at  the  solicitation  of  Col.  Webb,  the  editor  of  the  latter. 
It  was  a  pity  the  Tribune  let  him  go,  for  he  is  a  born  journalist,  and 
could  have  helped  the  Tribune  to  attain  the  position  of  the  great, 
only,  undisputed  Metropolitan  Journal,  many  years  sooner  than  it 
will.  Horace  Greeley  is  not  a  born  journalist.  He  is  too  much  in 
earnest  to  be  a  perfect  editor.  He  has  too  many  opinions  and  pref- 
erences. He  is  a  BOEN  LEGISLATOR,  a  Deviser  of  Remedies,  a  Sug- 
gester  of  Expedients,  a  Framer  of  Measures.  The  most  successful 
editor  is  he  whose  great  endeavor  it  is  to  tell  the  public  all  it  wants 
to  Jcnow,  and  whose  comments  on  passing  events  best  express  the 
feeling  of  the  country  with  regard  to  them.  Mr.  Raymond  is 
not  a  man  of  first-rate  talent — great  talent  would  be  in  his  way — 
he  is  most  interesting  when  he  attacks ;  and  of  the  varieties  of 
composition,  polished  vituperation  is  not  the  most  difficult.  But 
he  has  the  right  notion  of  editing  a  daily  paper,  and  when  the  Tri- 
bune lost  him,  it  lost  more  than  it  had  the  slightest  idea  of— as 
events  have  since  shown. 

However,  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  J.  Raymond,  the  one  nat- 
urally liberal,  the  other  naturally  conservative — the  one  a  Universal- 
ist,  the  other  a  Presbyterian — the  one  regarding  the  world  as  a 
place  to  be  made  better  by  living  in  it,  the  other  regarding  it  as 
an  oyster  to  be  opened,  and  bent  on  opening  it — would  have  found 
it  hard  to  work  together  on  equal  terms.  They  separated  amicably, 
and  each  went  his  way.  The  discussion  of  Fourierism  arose  thus : 


£06  THE   TRIBUNE   AND   JFOURIERISM. 

Mr.  Brisbane,  on  his  return  from  Europe,  renewed  the  agitation 
of  his  subject.  The  Tribune  of  August  19th,  1846,  contained  a 
letter  by  him,  addressed  to  the  editors  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer, 
proposing  several  questions,  to  which  answers  were  requested, 
respecting  Social  Reform.  The  Courier  replied.  The  Tribune  re- 
joined editorially,  and  was  answered  in  turn  by  the  Courier.  Mr. 
Brisbane  addressed  a  second  letter  to  the  Courier,  and  sent  it 
direct  to  the  editor  of  that  paper  in  manuscript.  The  Courier 
agreed  to  publish  it,  if  the  Tribune  would  give  place  to  its  reply. 
The  Tribune  declined  doing  so,  but  challenged  the  editor  of  the 
Courier  to  a  public  discussion  of  the  whole  subject. 

"  Though  we  cannot  now,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley,  "  open  our  col- 
umns to  a  set  discussion  by  others  of  social  questions  (which  may 
or  may  not  refer  mainly  to  points  deemed  relevant  by  us),  we  readily 
close  with  the  spirit  of  the  Courier's  proposition.  *  *  As  soon 
as  the  State  election  is  fairly  over — say  Nov.  10th — we  will  pub- 
lish an  entire  articfe,  filling  a  column  of  the  Tribune,  very  nearly, 
in  favor  of  Association  as  we  understand  it ;  and,  upon  the  Courier 
copying  this  and  replying,  we  will  give  place  to  its  reply,  and  re- 
spond ;  and  so  on,  till  each  party  shall  have  published  twelve  articles 
on  its  own  side,  and  twelve  on  the  other,  which  shall  fulfil  the 
terms  of  this  agreement.  All  the  twelve  articles  of  each  party 
shall  be  published  without  abridgment  or  variation  in  the  Daily, 
Weekly,  and  Semi-weekly  editions  of  both  papers.  Afterward  each 
party  will,  of  course,  be  at  liberty  to  comment  at  pleasure  in  his 
own  columns.  In  order  that  neither  paper  shall  be  crowded  with 
this  discussion,  one  article  per  week,  only,  on  either  side,  shall  be 
published,  unless  the  Courier  shall  prefer  greater  dispatch.  Is  not 
this  a  fair  proposition  ?  What  says  the  Courier  ?  It  has,  of  course, 
the  advantage  of  the  defensive  position  and  of  the  last  word." 

The  Courier  said,  after  much  toying  and  dallying,  and  a  pre- 
liminary skirmish  of  paragraphs,  COME  ON!  and,  on  the  20th  of 
November,  the  Tribune  came  on.  The  debate  lasted  six  months. 
It  was  conducted  on  both  sides  with  spirit  and  ability,  and  it  at- 
tracted much  attention.  The  twenty-four  articles,  of  which  it  con- 
sisted, were  afterwards  published  by  the  Harpers  in  a  pamphlet  of 
eighty-three  closely-printed,  double-columned  pages,  which  had  a 
considerable  sale,  and  has  long  been  out  of  print.  On  one  side 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE   DISCUSSION.  207 

we  see  earnestness  and  sincerity ;  on  the  other  tact  and  skill. 
One  strove  to  convince,  the  other  to  triumph.  The  thread  of  ar- 
gument is  often  lost  in  a  maze  of  irrelevancy.  The  subject,  in- 
deed, was  peculiarly  ill  calculated  for  a  public  discussion.  When 
men  converse  on  a  scheme  which  has  for  its  object  the  good  of 
mankind,  let  them  confer  in  awful  whispers — apart,  like  conspir- 
ators ,  not  distract  themselves  in  dispute  in  the  hearing  of  a  nation ; 
for  they  who  would  benefit  mankind  must  do  it  either  by  stealth 
or  by  violence. 

I  have  tried  to  condense  this  tremendous  pamphlet  into  the  form 
and  brevity  of  a  conversation,  with  the  following  result.  Neither 
of  the  speakers,  however,  are  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  language 
employed. 

Horace  Greeley.  Nov.  20^.  The  earth,  the  air,  the  waters,  the 
sunshine,  with  their  natural  products,  were  divinely  intended  and 
appointed  for  the  sustenance  and  enjoyment  of  the  whole  human 
family.  But  the  present  fact  is,  that  a  very  large  majority  of  man- 
kind are  landless  ;  and,  by  law,  the  landless  have  no  inherent  right 
to  stand  on  a  single  square  foot  of  their  native  State,  except  in  the 
highways.  Perishing  with  cold,  they  have  no  legal  right  to  a  stick 
of  decaying  fuel  in  the  most  unfrequented  morass.  Famishing,  they 
have  no  legal  right  to  pluck  and  eat  the  bitterest  acorn  in  the  depths 
of  the  remotest  forest.  But  the  Past  cannot  be  recalled.  "What 
has  been  done,  has  been  done.  The  legal  rights  of  individuals  must 
be  held  sacred.  But  those  whom  society  has  divested  of  their  natu- 
ral right  to  a  share  in  the  soil,  are  entitled  to  Compensation,  i.  e.  to 
continuous  opportunity  to  earn  a  subsistence  by  Labor.  To  own 
land  is  to  possess  this  opportunity.  The  majority  own  no  land. 
Therefore  the  minority,  who  own  legally  all  the  land,  which  natu- 
rally belongs  to  all  men  alike,  are  bound  to  secure  to  the  landless 
majority  a  compensating  security  of  remunerating  Labor.  But,  as 
society  is  now  organized,  this  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  done.  "  Work, 
work  !  give  us  something  to  do !  anything  that  will  secure  us  hon- 
est bread,"  is  at  this  moment  the  prayer  of  not  less  than  thirty 
thousand  human  beings  within  the  sound  of  the  City-Hall  bell. 
Here  is  an  enormous  waste  and  loss.  We  must  devise  a  remedy  ; 
and  that  remedy,  I  propose  to  show,  is  found  in  Association. 


20$  TEE   TRIBUNE   AND   FOURIER16M. 

H.  J.  Raymond.  NOD.  %3d.  Heavens  1  Here  we  have  one  of  the 
leading  Whig  presses  of  New  York  advocating  the  doctrine  that  no 
man  can  rightfully  own  land  !  Fanny  Wright  was  of  that  opinion. 
The  doctrine  is  erroneous  and  dangerous.  If  a  man  cannot  right- 
fully own  land,  he  cannot  rightfully  own  anything  which  the  land 
produces ;  that  is,  he  cannot  rightfully  own  anything  at  all.  The 
blessed  institution  of  property,  the  basis  of  the  social  fabric,  from 
which  arts,  agriculture,  commerce,  civilization  spring,  and  without 
which  they  could  not  exist,  is  threatened  with  destruction,  and  by 
a  leading  Whig  paper  too.  Conservative  Powers,  preserve  us ! 

Horace  Greeley.  Nov.  2Qth.  Fudge !  What  I  said  was  this :  So- 
ciety, having  divested  the  majority  of  any  right  to  the  soil,  is  bound 
to  compensate  them  by  guaranteeing  to  each  an  opportunity  of  earn- 
ing a  subsistence  by  Labor.  Your  vulgar,  clap-trap  allusion  to  Fan- 
ny Wright  does  not  surprise  me.  I  shall  neither  desert  nor  deny  a 
truth  because  she,  or  any  one  else,  has  proclaimed  it.  But  to  pro- 
ceed. By  association  I  mean  a  Social  Order,  which  shall  take  the 
place  of  the  present  Township,  to  be  composed  of  some  hundreds 
or  some  thousands  of  persons,  who  shall  be  united  together  in  inter- 
est and  industry  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  each  individual  the 
following  things  :  1,  an  elegant  and  commodious  house  ;  2,  an  edu- 
cation, complete  and  thorough ;  3,  a  secure  subsistence ;  4,  oppor- 
tunity to  labor ;  5,  fair  wages ;  6,  agreeable  social  relations ;  7,  prog- 
ress in  knowledge  and  skill.  As  society  is  at  present  organized, 
these  are  the  portion  of  a  very  small  minority.  But  by  association 
of  capital  and  industry,  they  might  become  the  lot  of  all ;  inasmuch 
as  association  tends  to  Economy  in  all  departments,  economy  in 
lands,  fences,  fuel,  household  labor,  tools,  education,  medicine,  legal 
advice,  and  commercial  exchanges.  My  opponent  will  please  ob- 
serve that  his  article  is  three  times  as  long  as  mine,  and  devoted  in 
good  part  to  telling  the  public  that  the  Tribune  is  an  exceedingly 
mischievous  paper ;  which  is  an  imposition. 

H.  J.  Raymond.  Nov.  WtJi.  A  home,  fair  wages,  education,  etc., 
are  very  desirable,  we  admit ;  and  it  is  the  unceasing  aim  of  all  good 
men  in  society,  as  it  now  exists,  to  place  those  blessings  within  the 
reach  of  all.  The  Tribune's  claim  that  it  can  be  accomplished  only 
by  association  is  only  a  claim.  Substantiate  it.  Give  us  proof  of 


ABSTRACT   OP   THE   DISCUSSION.  209 

its  efficacy.  Tell  us  in  whom  the  property  is  to  be  vested,  how 
labor  is  to  be  remunerated,  what  share  capital  is  to  have  in  the  con- 
cern, by  what  device  men  are  to  be  induced  to  labor,  how  moral 
offences  are  to  be  excluded  or  punished.  Then  we  may  be  able  to 
discuss  the  subject.  Nothing  was  stipulated  about  the  length  of  the 
articles ;  and  we  do  think  the  Tribune  a  mischievous  paper. 

Horace  Greeley.  Dec.  1st.  The  property  of  an  association  will 
be  vested  in  those  who  contributed  the  capital  to  establish  it,  repre- 
sented by  shares  of  stock,  just  as  the  property  of  a  bank,  factory,  or 
railroad  now  is.  Labor,  skill  and  talent,  will  be  remunerated  by  a 
fixed  proportion  of  their  products,  or  of  its  proceeds,  if  sold.  Men 
will  be  induced  to  labor  by  a  knowledge  that  its  rewards  will  be  a 
certain  and  major  proportion  of  the  product,  which  of  course  will 
be  less  or  more  according  to  the  skill  and  industry  of  each  individ- 
ual. The  slave  has  no  motive  to  diligence  except  fear;  the  hireling 
is  tempted  to  eye-service  ;  the  solitary  worker  for  himself  is  apt  to 
become  disheartened ;  but  men  working  for  themselves,  in  groups, 
will  find  labor  not  less  attractive  than  profitable.  Moral  offences 
will  be  punished  by  legal  enactment,  and  they  will  be  rendered  un- 
frequent  by  plenty  and  education. 

H.  J.  Raymond.  Dec.  Sth.  Oh — then  the  men  of  capital  are  to 
own  the  land,  are  they?  Let  us  see.  A  man  with  money  enough 
may  buy  an  entire  domain  of  five  thousand  acres ;  men  without 
money  will  cultivate  it  on  condition  of  receiving  a  fixed  proportion 
of  its  products ;  the  major  part,  says  the  Tribune ;  suppose  we  say 
three-fourths.  Then  the  contract  is  simply  this: — One  rich  man 
(or  company}  owns  Jive  thousand  acres  of  land,  which  he  leases  forever 
to  two  thousand  poor  men  at  the  yearly  rent  of  one-fourth  of  its 
products.  It  is  an  affair  of  landlord  and  tenant — the  lease  perpet- 
ual, payment  in  kind;  and  the  landlord  to  own  the  cattle,  tools, 
and  furniture  of  the  tenant,  as  well  as  the  land.  Association,  then, 
is  merely  a  plan  for  extending  the  relation  of  landlord  and  tenant 
over  the  whole  arable  surface  of  the  earth. 

Horace  Greeley.  Dec.  IQth.  By  no  means.  The  capital  of  a 
mature  association  would  be,  perhaps,  half  a  million  of  dollars ;  if 


210  THE    TRIBUNE   AND    FOURIERISM. 

an  infant  association,  fifty  thousand  dollars;  and  this  increase  of 
value  would  be  both  created  and  owned  by  Labor.  In  an  ordinary 
township,  however,  the  increase,  though  all  created  by  Labor,  is 
chiefly  owned  by  Capital.  The  majority  of  the  inhabitants  remain 
poor;  while  a  few  —merchants,  land-owners,  mill-owners,  and  manu- 
facturers —  are  enriched.  That  this  is  the  fact  in  recently  -settled 
townships,  is  undeniable.  That  it  would  not  be  the  fact  in  a  town- 
ship settled  and  cultivated  on  the  principle  of  association,  seems  to 
me  equally  so. 


H.  J.  Raymond.  Dec  l^tJi.  But  not  to  me.  Suppose  fifty  men 
furnish  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  an  association  upon  which  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  others  are  to  labor  and  to  live.  With  that  sum  they 
buy  the  land,  build  the  houses,  and  procure  everything  needful  for 
the  start.  The  capitalists,  bear  in  mind,  are  the  absolute  owners  of 
the  entire  property  of  the  association.  In  twenty  years,  that  prop- 
erty may  be  worth  half  a  million,  and  it  still  remains  the  property 
of  the  capitalists,  the  laborers  having  annually  drawn  their  share  of 
the  products.  They  may  have  saved  a  portion  of  their  annual 
share,  and  thus  have  accumulated  property  ;  but  they  have  no  more 
title  to  the  domain  than  they  had  at  first.  If  the  concern  should 
not  prosper,  the  laborers  could  not  buy  shares  ;  if  it  should,  the 
capitalists  would  not  sell  except  at  their  increased  value.  What 
advantage,  then,  does  association  offer  for  the  poor  man's  acquiring 
property  superior  to  that  afforded  by  the  present  state  of  things  ? 
None,  that  we  can  see.  On  the  contrary,  the  more  rapidly  the 
domain  of  an  association  should  increase  in  value,  the  more  difficult 
it  would  be  for  the  laboring  man  to  rise  to  the  class  of  proprietors  ; 
and  this  would  simply  be  an  aggravation  of  the  worst  features  of 
the  social  system.  And  how  you  associationists  would  quarrel  !  The 
skillful  would  be  ever  grumbling  at  the  awkward,  and  the  lazy  would 
shirk  their  share  of  the  work,  but  clamor  for  their  share  of  the 
product.  There  would  be  ten  occasions  for  bickerings  where  now 
there  is  one.  The  fancies  of  the  associationist,  in  fact,  are  as  base- 
less, though  not  as  beautiful,  as  More's  Utopia,  or  the  Happy  Valley 
of  Rasselas. 

Horace  Greeley.    Dec.lbih.    No,  Sir!   In  association,  those  who 


ABSTRACT    OF    THE    DISCUSSION.  211 

furnish,  the  original  capital  are  the  owners  merely  of  so  much  stock 
in  the  concern — not  of  all  the  land  and  other  property,  as  you  repre- 
sent. Suppose  that  capital  to  be  fifty  thousand  dollars.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  year  it  is  found  that  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  have 
been  added  to  the  value  of  the  property  by  Labor.  For  this  amount 
new  stock  is  issued,  which  is  apportioned  to  Capital,  Labor  and  Skill 
as  impartial  justice  shall  dictate — to  the  non-resident  capitalist  a 
certain  proportion ;  to  the  working  capitalist  the  same  proportion, 
plus  the  excess  of  his  earnings  over  his  expenses ;  to  the  laborer 
that  excess  only.  The  apportionment  is  repeated  every  year ;  and 
the  proportion  of  the  new  stock  assigned  to  Capital  is  such  that 
when  the  property  of  the  association  is  worth  half  a  million,  Capi- 
tal will  own  about  one-fifth  of  it.  With  regard  to  the  practical 
working  of  association,  I  point  you  to  the  fact  that  association  and 
civilization  are  one.  They  advance  and  recede  together.  In  this 
age  we  have  large  steamboats,  monster  hotels,  insurance,  partner- 
ships, joint  stock  companies,  public  schools,  libraries,  police,  Odd 
Fellowship — all  of  which  are  exemplifications  of  the  idea  upon 
which  association  is  based  ;  all  of  which  work  well  as  institutions, 
and  are  productive  of  incalculable  benefits  to  mankind. 


H.  J.  Raymond.  Dec.  24iA.  Of  course; — but  association  as- 
sumes to  shape  and  govern  the  details  of  social  life,  which  is  a  very 
different  affair.  One  '•group]  it  appears,  is  to  do  all  the  cooking, 
another  the  gardening,  another  the  ploughing.  But  suppose  that 
some  who  want  to  be  cooks  are  enrolled  in  the  gardening  group. 
They  will  naturally  sneer  at  the  dishes  cooked  by  their  rivals,  per- 
haps form  a  party  for  the  expulsion  of  the  cooks,  and  so  bring  about 
a  kitchen  war.  Then,  who  will  consent  to  be  a  member  of  the 
boot-blacking,  ditch-digging  and  sink-cleaning  groups  ?  Such  labors 
must  be  done,  and  groups  must  be  detailed  to  do  them.  Then,  who 
is  to  settle  the  wages  question  ?  Who  is  to  determine  upon  the  com- 
parative efficiency  of  each  laborer,  and  settle  the  comparative  value 
of  his  work?  There  is  the  religious  difficulty  too,  and  the  educa- 
tional difficulty,  the  medical  difficulty,  and  numberless  other  diffi- 
culties, arising  from  differences  of  opinion,  so  radical  and  so  earnest- 
ly entertained  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  a  large  number  of 


212  THE    TRIBUNE   AND   FOURIERISM. 

persons  living  together  in  the  intimate  relation  contemplated  by 
association. 

JP&&4;  *A.  .a^;.:'*:.j  *>:wSt«£.f  •£?.&  &3  !M  h?!^?  *A--:i  sr*«w.yfWI  .•-•vfr*!>- 
Horace  Greeley.  Dee.  28th.  Not  so  fast.  After  the  first  steam- 
ship had  crossed  the  Atlantic  all  the  demonstrations  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  that  fact  fell  to  the  ground.  Now,  with  regard  to  as 
sociations,  the  first  steamship  has  crossed  I  The  communities  of 
Zoar  and  Rapp  have  existed  from  twenty  to  forty  years,  and  several 
associations  of  the  kind  advocated  by  me  have  survived  from  two 
to  five  years,  not  only  without  being  broken  up  by  the  difficulties 
alluded  to,  but  without  their  presenting  themselves  in  the  light  of 
difficulties  at  all.  No  inter-kitchen  war  has  disturbed  their  peace, 
no  religious  differences  have  marred  their  harmony,  and  men  have 
been  found  willing  to  perform  ungrateful  offices,  required  by  the 
general  good.  Passing  over  your  objections,  therefore,  I  beg  you 
to  consider  the  enormous  difficulties,  the  wrongs,  the  waste,  the  mis- 
ery, occasioned  by  and  inseparable  from  society  as  it  is  now  organ- 
ized. For  example,  the  coming  on  of  winter  contracts  business  and 
throws  thousands  out  of  employment.  They  and  their  families  suf- 
fer, the  dealers  who  supply  them  are  losers  in  custom,  the  alms- 
house  is  crowded,  private  charity  is  taxed  to  the  extreme,  many  die 
of  diseases  induced  by  destitution,  some  are  driven  by  despair  to 
intoxication  ;  and  all  this,  while  every  ox  and  horse  is  well  fed  and 
cared  for,  while  there  is  inaccessible  plenty  all  around,  while  capi- 
tal is  luxuriating  on  the  products  of  the  very  labor  which  is  now  pal- 
sied and  suffering.  Under  the  present  system,  capital  is  everything, 
man  nothing,  except  as  a  means  of  accumulating  capital.  Capital 
founds  a  factory,  and  for  the  single  purpose  of  increasing  capital, 
taking  no  thought  of  the  human  beings  by  whom  it  is  increased. 
The  fundamental  ideas  of  association,  on  the  other  hand,  is  to  effect 
a  just  distribution  of  products  among  capital,  talent  and  labor. 

H.  j.  Raymond.  Jan.  6th.  The  idea  may  be  good  enough ; 
but  the  means  are  impracticable ;  the  details  are  absurd,  if  not  in- 
humane and  impious.  The  Tribune's  admission,  that  an  association 
of  indolent  or  covetous  persons  could  not  endure  without  a  moral 
transformation  of  its  members,  seems  to  us  fatal  to  the  whole  theory 
of  association.  It  implies  that  individual  reform  must  precede  so- 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE   DISCUSSION.  213 

eial  reform,  which  is  precisely  our  position.  But  how  is  individual 
reform  to  be  effected  ?  By  association,  says  the  Tribune.  That  is, 
the  motion  of  the  water-wheel  is  to  produce  the  water  by  which 
alone  it  can  be  set  in  motion- — the  action  of  the  watch  is  to  pro- 
duce the  main-spring  without  which  it  cannot  move.  Absurd. 

Horace  Greeley.  Jan.  IBth.  Incorrigible  mis-stater  of  my  posi- 
tions !  I  am  as  well  aware  as  you  are  that  the  mass  of  the  igno- 
rant and  destitute  are,  at  present,  incapable  of  so  much  as  under- 
standing the  social  order  I  propose,  much  less  of  becoming  efficient 
members  of  an  association.  What  I  say  is,  let  those  who  are  capa- 
ble of  understanding  and  promoting  it,  begin  the  work,  found  asso- 
ciations, and  show  the  rest  of  mankind  how  to  live  and  thrive  in 
harmonious  industry.  You  tell  me  that  the  sole  efficient  agency  of 
Social  Reform  is  Christianity.  I  answer  that  association  is  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  the  dislocation  now  existing  between  capital  and  labor, 
between  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer,  is  as  atheistic  as  it  is  in- 
human. 

IT.  J.  Raymond.  Jan.  20th.  Stop  a  moment.  The  test  of  true 
benevolence  is  practice,  not  preaching  \  and  we  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  the  members  of  any  one  of  our  city  churches  do 
more  every  year  for  the  practical  relief  of  poverty  and  suffering 
than  any  phalanx  that  ever  existed.  There  are  in  our  midst  hun- 
dreds of  female  sewing  societies,  each  of  which  clothes  more  naked- 
ness and  feeds  more  hunger,  than  any  '  association '  that  ever  was 
formed.  There  is  a  single  individual  in  this  city  whom  the  Tribune 
has  vilified  as  a  selfish,  grasping  despiser  of  the  poor,  who  has  ex- 
pended more  money  in  providing  the  poor  with  food,  clothing,  edu- 
cuation,  sound  instruction  in  morals  and  religion,  than  all  the  advo- 
cates of  association  in  half  a  century.  While  association  has  been 
theorizing  about  starvation,  Christianity  has  been  preventing  it. 
Associationists  tell  us,  that  giving  to  the  poor  deepens  the  evil 
which  it  aims  to  relieve,  and  that  the  bounty  of  the  benevolent,  as 
society  is  now  organized,  is  very  often  abused.  We  assure  them,  it 
is  not  the  social  system  which  abuses  the  bounty  of  the  benevolent ; 
it  is  simply  the  dishonesty  and  indolence  of  individuals,  and  they 
would  do  the  same  under  any  system,  and  especially  in  association. 


214  THE   TRIBUNE   AND   FOURIEBISM. 

Horace  Greeley.  Jan.  Wih.  Private  benevolence  is  good  and 
necessary ;  the  Tribune  has  ever  been  its  cordial  and  earnest  ad- 
vocate. But  benevolence  relieves  only  the  effects  of  poverty,  while 
Association  proposes  to  reach  and  finally  eradicate  its  causes.  The 
charitable  are  doing  nobly  this  winter  for  the  relief  of  the  destitute ; 
but  will  there  be  in  this  city  next  winter  fewer  objects  of  charity 
than  there  are  now  ?  And  let  me  tell  you,  sir,  if  you  do  not  know 
it  already,  that  the  advocates  of  association,  in  proportion  to  their 
number,  and  their  means,  are,  at  least,  as  active  and  as  ready  in 
feeding  the  hungry  and  clothing  the  naked,  as  any  class  in  the  com- 
munity. Make  the  examinations  as  close  as  you  please,  bring  it  as 
near  home  as  you  like,  and  you  will  find  the  fact  to  be  as  I  have 
asserted. 

H.  J.  Raymond.  Feb.  10^.  You  overlook  one  main  objection. 
Association  aims,  not  merely  to  re-organize  Labor,  but  to  revolu- 
tionize Society,  to  change  radically  Laws,  Government,  Manners 
and  Religion.  It  pretends  to  be  a  new  Social  Science,  discovered 
by  Fourier.  In  our  next  article  we  shall  show  what  its  principles 
are,  and  point  out  their  inevitable  tendency. 

Horace  Greeley.  Feb.  Ylih.  Do  so.  Meanwhile  let  me  remind 
you,  that  there  is  need  of  a  new  Social  System,  when  the  old  one 
works  so  villanously  and  wastefully.  There  is  Ireland,  with  three 
hundred  thousand  able-bodied  men,  willing  to  work,  yet  unem- 
ployed. Their  labor  is  worth  forty-five  millions  of  dollars  a  year, 
which  they  need,  and  Ireland  needs,  but  which  the  present  Social 
System  dooms  to  waste.  There  is  work  enough  in  Ireland  to  do, 
and  men  enough  willing  to  do  it ;  but  the  spell  of  a  vicious  Social 
System  broods  over  the  island,  and  keeps  the  workmen  and  the 
work  apart.  Four  centuries  ago,  the  English  laborer  could  earn 
by  his  labor  a  good  and  sufficient  subsistence  for  his  family.  Since 
that  time  Labor  and  Talent  have  made  England  rich  *  beyond  the 
dreams  of  avarice  ;'  and,  at  this  day,  the  Laborer,  as  a  rule,  cannot, 
by  unremitting  toil,  fully  supply  the  necessities  of  his  family.  His 
bread  is  coarse,  his  clothing  scanty,  his  home  a  hovel,  his  children 
uiiinstructed,  his  life  cheerless.  He  lives  from  hand  to  mouth  in 
abject  terror  of  the  poor-house,  where,  he  shudders  to  think,  he 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE   DISCUSSION.  215 

must  end  his  days.  Precisely  the  same  causes  are  in  operation 
here,  and,  in  due  time,  will  produce  precisely  the  same  effects. 
There  is  NEED  of  a  Social  Re-formation ! 

H.  J.  Raymond.  March  3d.  You  are  mistaken.  The  state- 
ment that  the  laborers  of  the  present  day  are  worse  off  than  those 
of  former  ages,  has  been  exploded.  They  are  not.  On  the  contrary, 
their  condition  is  letter  in  every  respect.  Evils  under  the  present 
Social  System  exist,  great  evils — evils,  for  the  removal  of  which 
the  most  constant  and  zealous  efforts  ought  to  be  made  ;  yet  they 
are  very  far  from  being  as  great  or  as  general  as  the  Associationists 
assert.  The  fact  is  indisputable,  that,  as  a  rule  throughout  the 
country,  no  honest  man,  able  and  willing  to  work,  need  stand  idle 
from  lack  of  opportunity.  The  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  com- 
paratively few,  and  arise  from  temporary  and  local  causes.  But  we 
proceed  to  examine  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Social  System 
proposed  to  be  substituted  for  that  now  established.  In  one  word, 
that  principle  is  Self-indulgence  !  "  Reason  and  Passion,"  writes 
Parke  Godwin,  the  author  of  one  of  the  clearest  expositions  of  So- 
cialism yet  published,  "  will  be  in  perfect  accord  :  duty  and  pleas- 
ure will  have  the  same  meaning ;  without  inconvenience  or  calcu- 
lation, man  will  follow  Ms  lent:  hearing  only  of  Attraction,  he  will 
never  act  from  necessity,  and  never  curb  himself  by  restraints" 
"What  becomes  of  the  self-denial  so  expressly,  so  frequently,  so  em- 
phatically enjoined  by  the  New  Testament  ?  Fourierism  and  Chris- 
tianity, Fourierism  and  Morality,  Fourierism  and  Conjugal  Constancy 
are  in  palpable  hostility  !  We  are  told,  that  if  a  man  has  a  passion 
for  a  dozen  kinds  of  work,  he  joins  a  dozen  groups  ;  if  for  a  dozen 
kinds  of  study,  he  joins  a  dozen  groups  ;  and,  if  for  a  dozen  women, 
the  System  requires  that  there  must  be  a  dozen  different  groups  for 
his  full  gratification !  For  man  will  follow  his  lent,  and  never  curb 
himself  by  restraints  ! 

Horace  Oreeley .  March  12th.  Not  so.  I  re-assert  what  I  before 
proved,  that  the  English  laborers  of  to-day  are  worse  off  than  those 
of  former  centuries  ;  and  I  deny  with  disgust  and  indignation  that 
there  is  in  Socialism,  as  American  Socialists  understand  and  teach  it, 
any  provision  or  license  for  the  gratification  of  criminal  passions  or 


216  THE   TRIBUNE   AND   FOURIERISM. 

unlawful  desires.  Why  not  quote  Mr.  Godwin  fully  and  fairly  ? 
Why  suppress  his  remark,  that,  "  So  long  as  the  Passions  may 
bring  forth  Disorder — so  long  as  Inclination  may  be  in  opposition 
to  Duty — we  reprobate  as  strongly  as  any  class  of  men  all  indulg- 
ence of  the  inclinations  and  feelings ;  and  where  Reason  is  unable 
to  guide  them,  have  no  objection  to  other  means"  ?  Socialists  know 
nothing  of  Groups,  organized,  or  to  be  organized,  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  crimes,  or  the  practice  of  vices. 

H.  J.  Raymond.  March  IQth.  Perhaps  not.  But  1  know,  from 
the  writings  of  leading  Socialists,  that  the  law  of  Passional  Attrac- 
tion, i.  e.  Self-Indulgence,  is  the  essential  and  fundamental  principle 
of  Association ;  and  that,  while  Christianity  pronounces  the  free 
and  full  gratification  of  the  passions  a  crime,  Socialism  extols  it  as 
a  virtue. 

Horace  Greeley.  March  26th.  Impertinent.  Your  articles  are  all 
entitled  "  The  Socialism  of  the  Tribune  examined" ;  and  the  Tri- 
bune has  never  contained  a  line  to  justify  your  unfair  inferences 
from  garbled  quotations  from  the  writings  of  Godwin  and  Fourier. 
What  the  Tribune  advocates  is,  simply  and  solely,  such  an  organiza- 
tion of  Society  as  will  secure  to  every  man  the  opportunity  of  unin- 
terrupted and  profitable  labor,  and  to  every  child  nourishment  and 
culture.  These  things,  it  is  undeniable,  the  present  Social  System 
does  not  secure ;  and  hence  the  necessity  of  a  new  and  better  organ- 
ization. So  no  more  of  your  '  Passional  Attraction.' 

H.  J.  Raymond.  April  16th.  I  tell  you  the  scheme  of  Fourier  is 
essentially  and  fundamentally  irreligious  !  by  which  I  mean  that  it 
does  not  follow  my  Catechism,  and  apparently  ignores  the  Thirty- 
Nine  Articles.  Shocking. 

Horace  Greeley,     April  28th.     Humph ! 

H.  J.  Raymond.  May  2Qth.  The  Tribune  is  doing  a  great  deal  of 
harm.  The  editor  does  not  know  it — but  it  is. 

Thus  ended  Fourierism.    Thenceforth,  the  Tribune  alluded  to  the 


THE    TRIBUNE'S    SECOND    YEAR.  217 

subject  occasionally,  but  only  in  reply  to  those  who  sought  to  make 
political  or  personal  capital  by  reviving  it.  By  its  discussion  of  the 
subject  it  rendered  a  great  service  to  the  country  :  first,  by  afford 
ing  one  more  proof  that,  for  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  there  is, 
there  can  be,  no  panacea ;  secondly,  by  exhibiting  the  economy  of 
association,  and  familiarizing  the  public  mind  with  the  idea  of  asso- 
ciation— an  idea  susceptible  of  a  thousand  applications,  and  capable, 
in  a  thousand  ways,  of  alleviating  and  preventing  human  woes. 
"We  see  its  perfect  triumph  in  Insurance,  whereby  a  loss  which 
would  crush  an  individual  falls  upon  the  whole  company  of  insur- 
ers, lightly  and  unperceived.  Future  ages  will  witness  its  success- 
ful application  to  most  of  the  affairs  of  life. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  TRIBUNE'S  SECOND  YEAR. 

increase  of  price — The  Tribune  offends  the  Sixth  Ward  fighting-men — The  office  threat- 
ened— Novel  preparations  for  defense — Charles  Dickens  defended  —  The  Editor 
travels— Visits  Washington,  and  sketches  the  Senators— At  Mount  Vernon— At 
Niagara— A  hard  hit  at  Major  Noah* 

THE  Tribune,  as  we  have  seen,  was  started  as  a  penny  paper.  It 
began  its  second  volume,  on  the  eleventh  of  April,  1842,  at  the  in- 
creased price  of  nine  cents  a  week,  or  two  cents  for  a  single  num- 
oer,  and  effected  this  serious  advance  without  losing  two  hundred 
-of  its  twelve  thousand  subscribers.  At  the  same  time,  Messrs.  Gree- 
ley  and  McElrath  started  the  '  American  Laborer,'  a  monthly  maga- 
zine, devoted  chiefly  to  the  advocacy  of  Protection.  It  was  pub- 
\ished  at  seventy-five  cents  for  the  twelve  numbers  which  the  pros- 
pectus announced. 

When  it  was  remarked,' a  few  pages  back,  that  the  word  with  the 
Tribune  was  FIGHT,  no  allusion  was  intended  to  the  use  of  carnal 
weapons.  *'  The  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword,"  claptraps  Bulwer 
in  one  of  his  plays ;  and  the  Pen  was  the  only  fighting  implement 


218  THE  TRIBUNE'S  SECOND  YEAR. 

referred  to.  It  came  to  pass,  however,  in  the  first  month  of  the 
Tribune's  second  year,  that  the  pointed  nib  of  the  warlike  journal 
gave  deadly  umbrage  to  certain  fighting  men  of  the  Sixth  Ward,  by 
exposing  their  riotous  conduct  on  the  day  of  the  Spring  elections. 
The  office  was,  in  consequence,  threatened  by  the  offended  parties 
with  a  nocturnal  visit,  and  the  office,  alive  to  the  duty  of  hospital- 
ity, prepared  to  give  the  expected  guests  a  suitable  reception  by 
arming  itself  to  the  chimneys. 

This  (I  believe)  was  one  of  the  paragraphs  deemed  most  offen- 
sive: 

<f 

"It  appears  that  some  of  the  'Spartan  Band,'  headed  by  Michael  Walsh, 
after  a  fight  in  the  4th  District  of  the  Sixth  Ward,  paraded  up  Centre  street, 
opposite  the  Halls  of  Justice,  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  poll  of  the  3d  Dis- 
trict, where,  after  marching  and  counter-marching,  the  leader  Walsh  re-com- 
menced the  work  of  violence  by  knocking  down  an  unoffending  individual,  who 
was  following  near  him.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  attack  of  this  band 
upon  the  Irish  population,  who  were  knocked  down  in  every  direction,  until  the 
street  was  literally  strewed  with  their  prostrate  bodies.  After  this  demonstra- 
tion of  '  Spartan  valor,'  the  Irish  fled,  and  the  band  moved  on  to  another  poll 
to  re-enact  their  deeds  of  violence.  In  the  interim  the  Irish  proceeded  to  rally 
their  forces,  and,  armed  with  sticks  of  cord-wood  and  clubs,  paraded  through 
Centre  street,  about  300  strong,  attacking  indiscriminately  and  knocking  down 
nearly  all  who  came  in  their  way — some  of  their  victims,  bruised  and  bloody, 
having  to  be  carried  into  the  Police  Omc«  and  the  prison,  to  protect  them  from 
being  murdered.  A  portion  of  the  Irish  then  dispersed,  while  another  portion 
proceeded  to  a  house  in  Orange  street,  which  they  attacked  and  riddled  from 
top  to  bottom.  Re-uniting  their  scattered  forces,  the  Irish  bands  again,  with 
increased  numbers,  marched  up  Centre  street,  driving  all  before  them,  and 
when  near  the  Halls  of  Justice,  the  cry  was  raised,  '  Americans,  stand  firm  !' 
when  a  body  of  nearly  a  thousand  voters  surrounded  the  Irish  bands,  knocked 
them  down,  and  beat  them  without  mercy — while  some  of  the  fallen  Irishmen 
were  with  difficulty  rescued  from  the  violence  that  would  have  destroyed 
them,  had  they  not  been  hurried  into  the  Police  Office  and  prison  as  a  place  of 
refuge.  In  this  encounter,  or  the  one  that  preceded  it,  a  man  named  Ford, 
and  said  to  be  one  of  the  '  Spartans,'  was  carried  into  the  Police  Office  beaten 
almost  to  death,  and  was  subsequently  transferred  to  the  Hospital." 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  this  appeared,  two  gentle- 
men, more  muscular  than  civil,  called  at  the  office  to  say,  that  the 
Tribune's  account  of  the  riot  was  incorrect,  and  did  injustice  to 


THE    OFFICE    THREATENED.  219 

individuals,  who  expected  to  see  a  retraction  on  the  following  day. 
No  retraction  appeared  on  the  following  day,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
a  fuller  and  more  emphatic  repetition  of  the  charge.  The  next 
morning,  the  office  was  favored  by  a  second  visit  from  the  muscular 
gentlemen.  One  of  them  seized  a  clerk  by  the  shoulder,  and  re- 
quested to  be  informed  whether  Tie  was  the  offspring  of  a  female 
dog  who  had  put  that  into  the  paper,  pointing  to  the  offensive  arti- 
cle. The  clerk  protested  his  innocence;  and  the  men  of  muscle 
swore,  that,  whoever  put  it  in,  if  the  next  paper  did  not  do  them  jus- 
tice, the  Bloody  Sixth  would  come  down  and  'smash  the  office.' 
The  Tribune  of  the  next  day  contained  a  complete  history  of  the 
riot,  and  denounced  its  promoters  with  more  vehemence  than  on 
the  days  preceding.  The  Bloody  Sixth  was  ascertained  to  be  in  a 
ferment,  and  the  office  prepared  itself  for  defense. 

One  of  the  compositors  was  a  member  of  the  City  Guard,  and 
through  his  interest,  the  muskets  of  that  admired  company  of  citi- 
zen-soldiers were  procured ;  as  soon  as  the  evening  shades  pre- 
vailed, they  were  conveyed  to  the  office,  and  distributed  among 
the  men.  One  of  the  muskets  was  placed  near  the  desk  of  the  Ed- 
itor, who  looked  up  from  his  writing  and  said,  he  '  guessed  they 
would  n't  corne  down,'  and  resumed  his  work.  The  foreman  of  the 
press-room  in  the  basement  caused  a  pipe  to  be  conveyed  from  the 
safety  valve  of  the  boiler  to  the  steps  that  led  up  to  the  sidewalk. 
The  men  in  the  Herald  office,  near  by,  made  common  cause,  for 
this  occasion  only,  with  their  foemen  of  the  Tribune,  and  agreed, 
on  the  first  alarm,  to  rush  through  the  sky-light  to  the  flat  roof,  and 
rain  down  on  the  heads  of  the  Bloody  Sixth  a  shower  of  brick-bats 
to  be  procured  from  the  surrounding  chimneys.  It  was  thought, 
that  what  with  volleys  of  musketry  from  the  upper  windows,  a 
storm  of  bricks  from  the  roof,  and  a  blast  of  hot  steam  from  the 
cellar,  the  Bloody  Sixth  would  soon  have  enough  of  smashing  the 
Tribune  office.  The  men  of  the  allied  offices  waited  for  the  expect- 
ed assault  with  the  most  eager  desire.  At  twelve  o'clock,  the  part- 
ners made  a  tour  of  inspection,  and  expressed  their  perfect  satisfac- 
tion with  all  the  arrangements.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  story, 
the  night  wore  away,  the  paper  went  to  press,  morning  dawned, 
and  yet  the  Bloody  Sixth  had  not  appeared !  Either  the  Bloody 
Sixth  had  thought  better  of  it,  or  the  men  of  muscle  had  had  no 


right  to  speak  in  its  awful  name.  From  whatever  cause — these 
masterly  preparations  were  made  in  vain;  and  the  Tribune  went  on 
its  belligerent  way,  unsmashed.  For  some  weeks,  *  it  kept  at '  the 
election  frauds,  and  made  a  complete  exposure  of  the  guilty  persons, 

Let  us  glance  hastily  over  the  rest  of  the  volume. 

It  was  the  year  of  Charles  Dickens'  visit  to  the  United  States. 
The  Tribune  ridiculed  the  extravagant  and  unsuitable  honors  paid 
to  the  amiable  novelist,  but  spoke  strongly  in  favor  of  international 
copyright,  which  Mr.  Dickens  made  it  his  '  mission '  to  advocate. 
"When  the  *  American  Notes  for  General  Circulation '  appeared,  the 
Tribune  was  one  of  the  few  papers  that  gave  it  a  '  favorable  notice.' 
"  "We  have  read  the  book,"  said  the  Tribune,  "  very  carefully,  and 
we  are  forced  to  say,  in  the  face  of  all  this  stormy  denunciation, 
that,  so  far  as  its  tone  toward  this  country  is  concerned,  it  is  one 
of  the  fiery  best  works  of  its  class  we  have  ever  seen.  There  is  not 
a  sentence  it  which  seems  to  have  sprung  from  ill-nature  or  con- 
tempt; not  a  word  of  censure  is  uttered  for  its  own  sake  or  in 
a  fault-finding  spirit ;  the  whole  is  a  calm,  judicious,  gentlemanly, 
unexceptionable  record  of  what  the  writer  saw — and  a  candid  and 
correct  judgment  of  its  worth  and  its  defects.  How  a  writer  could 
look  upon  the  broadly-blazoned  and  applauded  slanders  of  his  own 
land  which  abound  in  this — how  he  could  run  through  the  pages  of 
LESTER'S  book — filled  to  the  margin  with  the  grossest,  most  un- 
founded and  illiberal  assaults  upon  all  the  institutions  and  the  social 
phases  of  Great  Britain — and  then  write  so  calmly  of  this  country, 
with  so  manifest  a  freedom  from  passion  and  prejudice,  as  DICK- 
ENS has  done,  is  to  us  no  slight  marvel.  That  he  has  done  it  is 
infinitely  to  his  credit,  and  confirms  us  in  the  opinion  we  had  long 
since  formed  of  the  soundness  of  his  head  and  the  goodness  of  hia 
heart." 

In  the  summer  of  1842,  Mr.  Greeley  made  an  extensive  tour,  visit- 
ing "Washington,  Mount  Vernon,  Poultney,  "Westhaven,  London- 
derry, Niagara,  and  the  home  of  his  parents  in  Pennsylvania,  from 
all  of  which  he  wrote  letters  to  the  Tribune.  His  letters  from 
Washington,  entitled  'Glances  at  the  Senate,'  gave  agreeable 
sketches  of  Calhoun,  Preston,  Benton,  Evans,  Crittenden,  "Wright, 
and  others.  Silas  "Wright  he  thought  the  'keenest  logician  in  the 
Senate,'  the  'Ajax  of  plausibility,'  the  'Talleyrand  of  the  forum.1 


VISITS    NIAGARA.  221 

Calhoun  he  described  as  the  l  compactest  speaker'  in  the  Senate ; 
Preston,  as  the  'most  forcible  declalmer;'  Evans,  as  the  'most  dex- 
terous and  diligent  legislator ;'  Benton,  as  an  individual,  "  gross  and 
burly  in  person,  of  countenance  most  unintellectual,  in  manner  pom- 
pous and  inflated,  in  matter  empty,  in  conceit  a  giant,  in  influence 
a  cipher !" 

From  Mount  Yernon,  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  an  interesting  letter, 
chiefly  descriptive.  It  concluded  thus:— "Slowly,  pensively,  we 
turned  our  faces  from  the  rest  of  the  mighty  dead  to  the  turmoil  of 
the  restless  living — from  the  solemn  sublime  repose  of  Mount  Yer- 
non to  the  ceaseless  intrigues,  the  petty  strifes,  the  ant-hill  bustle  of 
the  Federal  City.  Each  has  its  own  atmosphere;  London  and 
Mecca  are  not  so  unlike  as  they.  The  silent,  enshrouding  woods, 
the  gleaming,  majestic  river,  the  bright,  benignant  sky — it  is  fitly 
here,  amid  the  scenes  he  loved  and  hallowed,  that  the  man  whose 
life  and  character  have  redeemed  Patriotism  and  Liberty  from  the 
reproach  which  centuries  of  designing  knavery  and  hollow  profess- 
ion had  cast  upon  them,  now  calmly  awaits  the  trump  of  the  arch- 
angel. Who  does  not  rejoice  that  the  original  design  of  removing 
his  ashes  to  the  city  has  never  been  consummated — that  they  lie 
where  the  pilgrim  may  reverently  approach  them,  nnvexed  by  the 
light  laugh  of  the  time-killing  worldling,  unannoyed  by  the  vain  or 
vile  scribblings  of  the  thoughtless  or  the  base?  Thus  may  they 
repose  forever !  that  the  heart  of  the  patriot  may  be  invigorated, 
the  hopes  of  the  philanthropist  strengthened  and  his  aims  exalted, 
the  pulse  of  the  American  quickened  and  his  aspirations  purified  by 
a  visit  to  Mount  Yernon!" 

From  Niagara,  the  traveller  wrote  a  letter  to  Graham's  Magazine : 

"  Years,"  said  he,  "  though  not  many,  have  weighed  upon  me  since  first,  in 
boyhood,  I  gazed  from  the  deck  of  a  canal-boat  upon  the  distant  cloud  of  white 
vapor  which  marked  the  position  of  the  world's  great  cataract,  and  listened  to 
catch  the  rumbling  of  its  deep  thunders.  Circumstances  did  not  then  permit  me 
to  gratify  my  strong  desire  of  visiting  it ;  and  now,  when  I  am  tempted  to  won- 
der at  the  stolidity  of  those  who  live  within  a  day's  journey,  yet  live  on. 
through  half  a  century  without  one  glance  at  the  mighty  torrent,  I  am 
checked  by  the  reflection  that  I  myself  passed  within  a  dozen  miles  of  it  no 
less  than  five  times  before  I  was  able  to  enjoy  its  magnificence.  The  propi- 
tious hour  came  at  last,  however ;  and,  after  a  disappointed  gaze  from  the 


222 

upper  terrace  on  the  British  side,  (in  which  I  half  feared  that  the  sheet  of 
broken  and  boiling  water  above  was  all  the  cataract  that  existed,)  and  rapid 
tortuous  descent  by  the  woody  declivity,  I  stood  at  length  on  Table  Rock,  and 
the  whole  immensity  of  the  tremendous  avalanche  of  waters  burst  at  once  on 
my  arrested  vision,  while  awe  struggled  with  amazement  for  the  mastery  of 
my  soul. 

"  This  was  late  in  October ;  I  have  twice  visited  the  scene  amid  the  freshness 
and  beauty  of  June  ;  but  I  think  the  late  Autumn  is  by  far  the  better  season. 
There  is  then  a  sternness  in  the  sky,  a  plaintive  melancholy  in  the  sighing  of 
the  wind  through  the  mottled  forest  foliage,  which  harmonizes  better  with  the 
spirit  of  the  scene ;  for  the  Genius  of  Niagara,  0  friend!  is  never  a  laughter  - 
loving  spirit.  For  the  gaudy  vanities,  the  petty  pomps,  the  light  follies  of  the 
hour,  he  has  small  sympathy.  Let  not  the  giddy  heir  bring  here  his  ingots, 
the  selfish  aspirant  his  ambition,  the  libertine  his  victim,  and  hope  to  find 
enjoyment  and  gaiety  in  the  presence.  Let  none  come  here  to  nurse  his  pride, 
or  avarice,  or  any  other  low  desire.  God  and  his  handiwork  here  stand  forth 
in  lone  sublimity ;  and  all  the  petty  doings  and  darings  of  the  ants  at  the 
base  of  the  pyramid  appear  in  their  proper  insignificance.  Few  can  have 
visited  Niagara  and  left  it  no  humbler,  no  graver  than  they  came." 

On  his  return  to  the  city,  Horace  Greeley  subsided,  with  curious 
abruptness,  into  the  editor  of  the  Tribune.  This  note  appears  on 
the  morning  after  his  arrival : 

"  The  senior  editor  of  this  paper  has  returned  to  his  post,  after  an  absence 
of  four  weeks,  during  which  he  has  visited  nearly  one  half  of  the  counties  of 
this  State,  and  passed  through  portions  of  Pennsylvania,  Vermont,  Massachu- 
setts, etc.  During  this  time  he  has  written  little  for  the  Tribune  save  the 
casual  and  hasty  letters  to  which  his  initials  were  subscribed ;  but  it  need 
hardly  be  said  that  the  general  course  and  conduct  of  the  paper  have  been  the 
same  as  if  he  had  been  at  his  post. 

"  Two  deductions  only  from  the  observations  he  has  made  and  the  information 
he  has  gathered  during  his  tour,  will  here  be  given.  They  are  these : 

"  1.  The  cause  of  Protection  to  Home  Industry  is  much  stronger  throughout 
this  and  the  adjoining  States  than  even  the  great  party  which  mainly  up- 
holds it ;  and  nothing  will  so  much  tend  to  ensure  the  election  of  Henry  Clay 
next  President  as  the  veto  of  an  efficient  Tariff  bill  by  John  Tyler. 

"  2.  The  strength  of  the  Whig  party  is  unbroken  by  recent  disasters  and 
treachery,  and  only  needs  the  proper  opportunity  to  manifest  itself  in  all  the 
energy  and  power  of  1840.  If  a  distinct  and  unequivocal  issue  can  be  made 
upon  the  great  leading  questions  at  issue  between  the  rival  parties — on  Pro- 
tection to  Home  Industry  and  Internal  Improvement — the  Whig  ascendency 
will  be  triumphantly  vindicated  in  the  coming  election." 


A    HARD    HIT    AT    MAJOR    NOAH.  223 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  politics  of  that  year.  For  Protection — 
for  Clay— against  Tyler — against  his  vetoes — for  a  law  to  punish  se 
duction — against  capital  punishment — imagine  countless  columns. 

In  October,  died  Di\  Channing.  "  Deeply,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley, 
"  do  we  deplore  his  loss,  most  untimely,  to  the  faithless  eye  of  man 
does  it  seem — to  the  cause  of  truth,  of  order  and  of  right,  and  still 
more  deeply  do  we  lament  that  he  has  left  behind  him,  in  the  same 
department  of  exertion,  so  few,  in  proportion  to  the  number  needed, 
to  supply  the  loss  occasioned  by  his  death."  Soon  after,  the  Tri- 
bune gave  Theodore  Parker  a  hearing  by  publishing  sketches  of  his 
lectures. 

An  affair  of  a  personal  nature  made  considerable  noise  about  this 
time,  which  is  worth  alluding  to,  for  several  reasons.  Major  Noah, 
then  the  editor  of  the  '  Union,'  a  Tylerite  paper  of  small  circula- 
tion and  irritable  temper,  was  much  addicted  to  attacks  on  the  Tri- 
bune. On  this  occasion,  he  was  unlucky  enough  to  publish  a  ri- 
diculous story,  to  the  effect  that  Horace  Greeley  had  taken  his 
breakfast  in  company  with  two  colored  men  at  a  boarding-house  in 
Barclay  street.  The  story  was  eagerly  copied  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Tribune,  and  at  length  Horace  Greeley  condescended  to  notice  it. 
The  point  of  his  most  happy  and  annihilating  reply  is  contained  in 
these,  its  closing  sentences :  "  We  have  never  associated  with 
blacks ;  never  eaten  with  them ;  and  yet  it  is  quite  probable  that  if 
we  had  seen  two  cleanly,  decent  colored  persons  sitting  down  at  a 
second  table  in  another  room  just  as  we  were  finishing  our  break- 
fast, we  might  have  gone  away  without  thinking  or  caring  about 
the  matter.  We  choose  our  own  company  in  all  things,  and  that 
of  our  own  race,  but  cherish  little  of  that  spirit  which  for  eighteen 
centuries  has  held  the  kindred  of  M.  M.  Noah  accursed  of  God  and 
man,  outlawed  and  outcast,  and  unfit  to  be  the  associates  of  Chris- 
tians, Mussulmen,  or  even  self-respecting  Pagans.  Where  there  are 
thousands  who  would  not  eat  with  a  negro,  there  are  (or  lately 
were)  tens  of  thousands  who  would  not  eat  with  a  Jew.  We  leave 
to  such  renegades  as  the  Judge  of  Israel  the  stirring  up  of  prejudices 
and  the  prating  of  '  usages  of  society,'  which  over  half  the  world 
make  him  an  abhorrence,  as  they  not  long  since  would  have  done 
here;  we  treat  all  men  according  to  what  they  are  and  not 
whence  they  spring.  That  he  is  a  knave,  we  think  much  to  his  dis- 


224  THE    TRIBUNE   AND   J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

credit ;  that  he  is  a  Jew  nothing,  however  unfortunate  it  may  be 
for  that  luckless  people."  This  was  a  hit  not  more  hard  than  fair. 
The  '  Judge  of  Israel,'  it  is  said,  felt  it  acutely. 

The  Tribune  continued  to  prosper.  It  ended  the  second  volume 
with  a  circulation  of  twenty  thousand,  and  an  advertising  patron- 
age so  extensive  as  to  compel  the  issue  of  frequent  supplements. 
The  position  of  its  chief  editor  grew  in  importance.  His  advice  and 
co-operation  were  sought  by  so  many  persons  and  for  so  many  ob- 
jects, that  he  was  obliged  to  keep  a  notice  standing,  which  request- 
ed "  all  who  would  see  him  personally  in  his  office,  to  call  between 
the  hours  of  8  and  9  A.  M.,  and  5  and  6  P.  M.,  unless  the  most  im- 
perative necessity  dictate  a  different  hour.  If  this  notice  be  dis- 
regarded, he  will  be  compelled  to  abandon  his  office  and  seek  else- 
where a  chance  for  an  hour's  uninterrupted  devotion  to  his  daily 
duties." 

His  first  set  lecture  in  New  York  is  thus  announced,  January 
3d,  1843  :  "Horace  Greeley  will  lecture  before  the  New  York  Ly- 
ceum at  the  Tabernacle,  this  evening.  Subject, '  Human  Life.'  The 
lecture  will  commence  at  half  past  7,  precisely.  If  those  who  care 
to  hear  it  will  sit  near  the  desk,  they  will  favor  the  lecturer's  weak 
and  husky  voice." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  TRIBUNE  AND  J.  FENIMORE  COOPER. 

The  libel— Horace  Greeley's  narrative  of  the  trial— He  reviews  the  opening  speech  of 
Mr.  Cooper's  counsel— A  striking  illustration — He  addresses  the  jury — Mr.  Cooper 
sums  up — Horace  Greeley  comments  on  the  speech  of  the  novelist — In  doing  so  he 
perpetrates  new  libels — The  verdict — Mr.  Greeley's  remarks  on  the  same — Strikes 
a  bee-line  for  New  York— A  new  suit— An  imaginary  case. 

A  MAN  is  never  so  characteristic  as  when  he  sports.  There  was 
something  in  the  warfare  waged  by  the  author  of  the  Leatherstock- 
ing  against  the  press,  and  particularly  in  his  suit  of  the  Tribune  for 
libel,  that  appealed  so  strongly  to  Horace  Greeley's  sense  of  tho 


THE    LIBEL    ON   J.  FENIMORE    COOPER.  225 

comic,  that  he  seldom  alluded  to  it  without,  apparently,  falling  into 
a  paroxysm  of  mirth.  Some  of  his  most  humorous  passages  were 
written  in  connection  with  what  he  called  '  the  Cooperage  of  the 
Tribune.'  To  that  affair,  therefore,  it  is  proper  that  a  short  chapter 
should  be  devoted,  before  pursuing  further  the  History  of  the 
Tribune. 

The  matter  alleged  to  be  libellous  appeared  in  the  Tribune,  Nov. 
17th,  1841.  The  trial  took  place  at  Saratoga,  Dec.  9th,  1842.  Mr. 
Greeley  defended  the  suit  in  person,  and,  on  returning  to  New  York, 
wrote  a  long  and  ludicrous  account  of  the  trial,  which  occupied 
eleven  columns  and  a  quarter  in  the  Tribune  of  Dec.  12th.  For 
that  number  of  the  paper  there  was  such  a  demand,  that  the  ac- 
count of  the  trial  was,  soon  after,  re-published  in  a  pamphlet,  of 
which  this  chapter  will  be  little  more  than  a  condensation. 

The  libel — such  as  it  was — the  reader  may  find  lurking  in  the 
following  epistle  : 

"  MR.  FENIMORE  COOPER  AND  HIS  LIBELS. 

"  FONDA,  Nov.  17,  1841. 
"  To  THE  EDITOH  OF  THE  TRIBUNE  : — 

"  The  Circuit  Court  now  sitting  here  is  to  be  occupied  chiefly  with  the  legal 
griefs  of  Mr.  Fenimore  Cooper,  who  has  determined  to  avenge  himself  upon 
the  Press  for  having  contributed  by  its  criticisms  to  his  waning  popularity  as 
a  novelist. 

"The  'handsome  Mr.  Effingham'  has  three  cases  of  issue  here,  two  of  which 
are  against  Col.  Webb,  Editor  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  and  one  against 
Mr.  Weed,  Editor  of  the  Albany  Evening  Journal. 

"  Mr.  Weed  not  appearing  on  Monday,  (the  first  day  of  court,)  Cooper  mov- 
ed for  judgment  by  default,  as  Mr.  Weed's  counsel  had  not  arrived.  Col. 
Webb,  who  on  passing  through  Albany,  called  at  Mr.  Weed's  house,  and 
learned  that  his  wife  was  seriously  and  his  daughter  dangerously  ill,  request- 
ed Mr.  Sacia  to  state  the  facts  to  the  Court,  and  ask  a  day's  delay,  Mr.  Sacia 
made,  at  the  same  time,  an  appeal  to  Mr.  Cooper's  humanity.  But  that  appeal, 
of  course,  was  an  unavailing  one.  The  novelist  pushed  his  advantage.  The 
Court,  however,  ordered  the  cause  to  go  over  till  the  next  day,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  the  default  should  be  entered  then  if  Mr.  Weed  did  not  ap- 
pear. Col.  Webb  then  despatched  a  messenger  to  Mr.  Weed  with  this  infor- 
mation. The  messenger  returned  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  stating  that 
his  daughter  lay  very  ill,  and  that  he  would  not  leave  her  while  she  was  suf 
fering  or  in  danger.  Mr.  Cooper,  therefore,  immediately  moved  for  his  default. 
Mr.  Sacia  interposed  again  for  time,  but  it  was  denied.  A  jury  was  empan- 

10* 


226  THE    TRIBUNE   AND   J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

elled  to  assess  Mr.  Effingham's  damages.  The  trial,  of  course,  was  ex-parte, 
Mr.  Weed  being  absent  and  defenceless.  Cooper's  lawyer  made  a  wordy, 
windy,  abusive  appeal  for  exemplary  damages.  The  jury  retired,  under  a 
strong  charge  against  Mr.  Weed  from  Judge  Willard,  and  after  remaining  in 
their  room  till  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  sealed  a  verdict  for  $400  for  Mr.  Effing- 
ham,  which  was  delivered  to  the  Court  this  morning. 

"  This  meagre  verdict,  under  the  circumstances,  is  a  severe  and  mortifying 
rebuke  to  Cooper,  who  had  everything  his  own  way. 

"  The  value  of  Mr.  Cooper's  character,  therefore,  has  been  judicially  ascer- 
tained. 

"  It  is  worth  exactly  four  hundred  dollars. 

"  Col.  Webb's  trial  comes  on  this  afternoon;  his  counsel,  C.L.  Jordan,  Esq., 
having  just  arrived  in  the  up  train.  Cooper  will  be  blown  sky  high.  This 
experiment  upon  the  Editor  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  I  predict,  will  cure 
the  '  handsome  Mr.  Effingham'  of  his  monomania  for  libels." 

The  rest  of  the  story  shall  be  given  here  in  Mr.  Greeley's  own 
words.  He  begins  the  narrative  thus : — 

"  The  responsible  Editor  of  the  Tribune  returned  yesterday  morning  from  a 
week's  journey  to  and  sojourn  in  the  County  of  Saratoga,  having  been  thereto 
urgently  persuaded  by  a  Supreme  Court  writ,  requiring  him  to  answer  to  the 
declaration  of  Mr.  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  in  an  action  for  Libel. 

"  This  suit  was  originally  to  have  been  tried  at  the  May  Circuit  at  Ballston  ; 
but  neither  Fenimore  (who  was  then  engaged  in  the  Coopering  of  Col.  Stone 
of  the  Commercial)  nor  we  had  time  to  attend  to  it — so  it  went  over  to  this 
term,  which  opened  at  Ballston  Spa  on  Monday,  Dec.  5th.  We  arrived  on 
the  ground  at  eleven  o'clock  of  that  day,  and  found  the  plaintiff  and  his 
lawyers  ready  for  us,  our  case  No.  10  on  the  calendar,  and  of  course  a  good 
prospect  of  an  early  trial ;  but  an  important  case  involving  Water-rights  came 
in  ahead  of  us  (No.  8)  taking  two  days,  and  it  was  half-past  10,  A.M.,  of 
Friday,  before  ours  was  reached — very  fortunately  for  us,  as  we  had  no  lawyer, 
had  never  talked  over  the  case  with  one,  or  made  any  preparation  whatever, 
save  in  thought,  and  had  not  even  found  time  to  read  the  papers  pertaining 
to  it  till  we  arrived  at  Ballston. 

"  The  delay  in  reaching  the  case  gave  us  time  for  all ;  and  that  we  did  not 
employ  lawyers  to  aid  in  our  conduct  or  defense  proceeded  from  no  want  of 
confidence  in  or  deference  to  the  many  eminent  members  of  the  Bar  there  in 
attendance,  beside  Mr.  Cooper's  three  able  counsel,  but  simply  from  the  fact 
that  we  wished  to  present  to  the  Court  some  considerations  which  we  thought 
had  been  overlooked  or  overborne  in  the  recent  Trials  of  the  Press  for  Libel 
before  our  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts,  and  which,  since  they  appealed  more 
directly  and  forcibly  to  the  experience  of  Editors  than  of  Lawyers,  we  pre- 


sumed  an  ordinary  editor  might  present  as  plainly  and  fully  as  an  able  law- 
yer. We  wished  to  place  before  the  Court  and  the  country  those  views  which 
we  understand  the  Press  to  maintain  with  us  of  its  own  position,  duties, 
responsibilities,  and  rights,  as  affected  by  the  practical  construction  given  of 
late  years  in  this  State  to  the  Law  of  Libel,  and  its  application  to  editors  and 
journals.  Understanding  that  we  could  not  appear  both  in  person  and  by 
counsel,  we  chose  the  former ;  though  on  trial  we  found  our  opponent  was  per- 
mitted to  do  what  we  supposed  we  could  not.  So  much  by  way  of  explana- 
tion to  the  many  able  and  worthy  lawyers  in  attendance  on  the  Circuit,  from 
whom  we  received  every  kindness,  who  would  doubtless  have  aided  us  most 
cheerfully  if  we  had  required  it,  and  would  have  conducted  our  case  far  more 
skillfully  than  we  either  expected  or  cared  to  do.  We  had  not  appeared  there 
to  be  saved  from  a  verdict  by  any  nice  technicality  or  legal  subtlety. 

"  The  case  was  opened  to  the  Court  and  Jury  by  Kichard  Cooper,  nephew 
and  attorney  of  the  plaintiff,  in  a  speech  of  decided  pertinence  and  force. 
*  *  *  Mr.  R.  Cooper  has  had  much  experience  in  this  class  of  cases,  and 
is  a  young  man  of  considerable  talent.  His  manner  is  the  only  fault  about 
him,  being  too  elaborate  and  pompous,  and  his  diction  too  bombastic  to  pro- 
duce the  best  effect  on  an  unsophisticated  auditory.  If  he  will  only  contrive 
to  correct  this,  he  will  yet  make  a  figure  at  the  Bar — or  rather,  he  will  make 
less  figure  and  do  more  execution.  The  force  of  his  speech  was  marred  by 
Fenimore's  continually  interrupting  to  dictate  and  suggest  to  him  ideas  when 
he  would  have  done  much  better  if  left  alone.  For  instance  :  Fenimore  in- 
structed him  to  say,  that  our  letter  from  Fonda  above  recited  purported  to  bo 
from  the  ( correspondent  of  the  Tribune,'  and  thence  to  draw  and  press  on  the 
Jury  the  inference  that  the  letter  was  written  by  some  of  our  own  corps,  whom 
we  had  sent  to  Fonda  to  report  these  trials.  This  inference  we  were  obliged 
to  repel  in  our  reply,  by  showing  that  the  article  plainly  read  '  correspondence 
of  the  Tribune,'  just  as  when  a  fire,  a  storm,  or  some  other  notable  event 
occurs  in  any  part  of  the  country  or  world,  and  a  friend  who  happens  to  be 
there,  sits  down  and  dispatches  us  a  letter  by  the  first  mail  to  give  us  early 
advices,  though  he  has  no  connection  with  us  but  by  subscription  and  good 
will,  and  perhaps  never  wrote  a  line  to  us  in  his  life  till  now. 

if.  *  #  *  *^*  #  *  * 

"  The  next  step  in  Mr.  K  Cooper's  opening :  We  had,  to  the  Declaration 
ag-ainst  us,  pleaded  the  General  Issue — that  is  Not  Guilty  of  libelling  Mr. 
Cooper,  at  the  same  time  fully  admitting  that  we  had  published  all  that  he 
called  our  libels  on  him,  and  desiring  to  put  in  issue  only  the  fact  of  their 
being  or  not  being  libels,  and  have  the  verdict  turn  on  that  issue.  But  Mr. 
Cooper  told  the  Jury  (and  we  found,  to  our  cost,  that  this  was  New  York  Su- 
premo and  Circuit  Court  law)  that  by  pleading  Not  Guily  we  had  legally  ad- 
mitted ourselves  to  be  Guilty — that  all  that  was  necessary  for  the  plaintiff 
under  that  pica  was  to  put  in  our  admission  of  publication,  and  then  the  Jury 


228  THE    TRIBUNE    AND   J.    FENIMORE    COOPER. 

had  nothing  to  do  but  to  assess  the  plaintiffs  damages  under  the  direction  of 
the  Court.  In  short,  we  were  made  to  understand  that  there  was  no  way  un- 
der Heaven — we  beg  pardon ;  under  New  York  Supreme  Court  Law — in  which 
the  editor  of  a  newspaper  could  plead  to  an  action  for  libel  that  the  matter 
charged  upon  him  as  libelous  was  not  in  its  nature  or  intent  a  libelj  but  sim- 
ply a  statement,  according  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief,  of  some 
notorious  and  every  way  public  transaction,  or  his  own  honest  comments 
thereon;  and  ask  the  Jury  to  decide  whether  the  plaintiff's  averment  or  his 
answers  thereto  be  the  truth  !  To  illustrate  the  beauties  of  'the  perfection 
of  human  reason  ' — always  intending  New  York  Circuit  and  Supreme  Court 
reason — on  this  subject,  and  to  show  the  perfect  soundness  and  pertinence  of 
Mr.  Cooper's  logic  according  to  the  decisions  of  these  Courts,  we  will  give  an 
example . 

"  Our  police  reporter,  say  this  evening,  shall  bring  in  on  his  chronicle  of 
daily  occurrences  the  following  : 

"  '  A  hatchet-faced  chap,  with  mouse-colored  whiskers,  who  gave  the  name 
of  John  Smith,  was  brought  in  by  a  watchman  who  found  him  lying  drunk  in 
the  gutter.  After  a  suitable  admonition  from  the  Justice,  and  on  payment  of 
the  usual  fine,  he  was  discharged.' 

"  Now,  our  reporter,  who,  no  more  than  we,  ever  before  heard  of  this  John 
Smith,  is  only  ambitious  to  do  his  duty  correctly  and  thoroughly,  to  make  his  de- 
scription accurate  and  graphic,  and  perhaps  to  protect  better  men  who  rejoice 
in  the  cognomen  of  John  Smith,  from  being  confounded  with  this  one  in  the 
popular  rumor  of  his  misadventure.  If  the  paragraph  should  come  under 
our  notice,  we  should  probably  strike  it  out  altogether,  as  relating  to  a  subject 
of  no  public  moment,  and  likely  to  crowd  out  better  matter.  But  we  do  not 
see  it,  and  in  it  goes  :  Well :  John  Smith,  who  '  acknowledges  the  corn '  as  to 
being  accidentally  drunk  and  getting  into  the  watch-house,  is  not  willing  to 
rest  under  the  imputation  of  being  hatched-faced  and  having  mouse-colored 
whiskers,  retains  Mr.  Richard  Cooper — for  he  could  not  do  better — and  com- 
mences an  action  for  libel  against  us.  We  take  the  best  legal  advice,  and  are 
told  that  we  must  demur  to  the  Declaration — that  is,  go  before  a  court  without 
jury,  where  no  facts  can  be  shown,  and  maintain  that  the  matter  charged  as 
uttered  by  us  is  not  libelous.  But  Mr.  E.  Cooper  meets  us  there  and  says  justly  : 
1  How  is  the  court  to  decide  without  evidence  that  this  matter  is  not  libelous  1 
If  it  was  written  and  inserted  for  the  express  purpose  of  ridiculing  and  bring- 
ing into  contempt  my  client,  it  clearly  is  libelous.  And  then  as  to  damages  : 
My  client  is  neither  rich  nor  a  great  man,  but  his  character,  in  his  own  circle, 
is  both  dear  and  valuable  to  him.  We  shall  be  able  to  show  on  trial  that  he 
was  on  the  point  of  contracting  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  keeper  of 
the  most  fashionable  and  lucrative  oyster-cellar  in  Orange  street,  whose 
nerves  were  so  shocked  at  the  idea  of  her  intended  having  a  '  hatchet  face  and 
mouse-colored  whiskers,'  that  she  fainted  outright  on  reading  the  paragraph 


229 

(copied  from  your  paper  into  the  next  day's  'Sun'),  and  was  not  brought  to 
until  a  whole  bucket  of  oysters  which  she  had  just  opened  had  been  poured 
over  her  in  a  hurried  mistake  for  water.  Since  then,  she  has  frequent  relapses 
and  shuddering,  especially  when  my  client's  name  is  mentioned,  and  utterly 
refuses  to  see  or  speak  of  him.  The  match  is  dead  broke,  and  my  client  loses 
thereby  a  capital  home,  where  victuals  are  more  plentiful  and  the  supply  move 
steady  than  it  has  been  his  fortune  to  find  them  for  the  last  year  or  two.  He 
loses,  with  all  this,  a  prospective  interest  in  the  concern,  and  is  left  utterly 
without  business  or  means  of  support  except  this  suit.  Besides,  how  can  you 
tell,  in  the  absence  of  all  testimony,  that  the  editor  was  not  paid  to  insert  this 
villanous  description  of  my  client,  by  some  envious  rival  for  the  affections  of 
the  oyster-maid,  who  calculates  both  to  gratify  his  spite  and  advance  his  lately 
hopeless  wooing  1  In  this  case,  it  certainly  is  a  libel.  We  affirm  this  to  be 
the  case,  and  you  are  bound  to  presume  that  it  is.  The  demurrer  must  be 
overruled.'  And  so  it  must  be.  No  judge  could  decide  otherwise. 

"  Now  we  are  thrown  back  upon  a  dilemma  :  Either  we  must  plead  Justifica- 
tion, in  which  case  we  admit  that  our  publication  was  on  its  face  a  libel ;  and 
now,  woe  to  us  if  we  cannot  prove  Mr.  Cooper's  client's  face  as  sharp,  and  his 
whiskers  of  the  precise  color  as  stated.  A  shade  more  or  less  ruins  us.  For,  be 
it  known,  by  attempting  a  Justification  we  have  not  merely  admitted  our  of- 
fense to  be  a  libel,  but  our  plea  is  an  aggravation  of  the  libel,  and  entitles  the 
plaintiff"  to  recover  higher  and  more  exemplary  damages.  But  we  have  just 
one  chance  more  :  to  plead  the  general  issue — to  wit,  that  we  did  not  libel  the 
said  John  Smith,  and  go  into  court  prepared  to  show  that  we  had  no  malice 
toward  or  intent  to  injure  Mr.  Smith,  never  heard  of  him  before,  and  have  done 
all  we  knew  how  to  make  him  reparation — in  short,  that  we  have  done  and  in- 
tended nothing  which  brings  us  fairly  within  the  iron  grasp  of  the  law  of  libel. 
But  here  again,  while  trying  our  best  to  get  in  somehow  a  plea  of  Not  Guilty, 
we  have  actually  pleaded  Guilty ! — so  says  the  Supreme  Court  law  of  New 
York — our  admitted  publication  (no  matter  of  what)  concerning  John  Smith 
proves  irresistibly  that  we  have  libeled  him — we  are  not  entitled  in  any  way 
whatever  to  go  to  the  Jury  with  evidence  tending  to  show  that  our  publication 
is  not  a  libel — or,  in  overthrow  of  the  legal  presumption  of  malice,  to  show 
that  there  actually  was  none.  All  that  we  possibly  can  offer  must  be  taken 
into  account  merely  in  mitigation  of  damages.  Our  hide  is  on  the  fence,  you 
see,  any  how. 

"  But  to  return  to  Richard's  argument  at  Ballston.  He  put  very  strongly 
against  us  the  fact  that  our  Fonda  correspondent  (see  Declaration  above)  con- 
sidered Fenimore's  verdict  there  a  meagre  one.  '  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,'  said 
he,  {  see  how  these  editors  rejoice  and  exult  when  they  get  off  with  so  light  a 
verdict  as  $400  !  They  consider  it  a  triumph  over  the  law  and  the  defendant. 
They  don't  consider  that  amount  anything.  If  you  mean  to  vindicate  the  laws 
and  the  character  of  my  client,  you  see  you  must  give  much  more  than  this.' 


280  THE    TRIBUNE    AND    J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

This  was  a  good  point,  but  not  quite  fair.  The  exultation  over  the  '  meagre 
verdict'  was  expressly  in  view  of  the  fact,  that  the  cause  was  undefended — that 
Fenimore  and  his  counsel  had  it  all  their  own  way,  evidence,  argument,  charge, 
and  all.  Still,  Richard  had  a  good  chance  here  to  appeal  for  a  large  verdict, 
and  he  did  it  well. 

"  On  one  other  point  Richard  talked  more  like  a  cheap  lawyer  and  less  like 
a — like  what  we  had  expected  of  him — than  through  the  general  course  of  his 
argument.  In  his  pleadings,  he  had  set  forth  Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas  Mc- 
Elrath  as  Editors  and  Proprietors  of  the  Tribune,  and  we  readily  enough  ad- 
mitted whatever  he  chose  to  assert  about  us  except  the  essential  thing  in  dis 
pute  between  us.  Well,  on  the  strength  of  this  he  puts  it  to  the  Court  and 
Jury,  that  Thomas  McElrath  is  one  of  the  Editors  of  the  Tribune,  and  that 
be,  being  (having  been)  a  lawyer,  would  have  been  in  Court  to  defend  this 
euit,  if  there  was  any  valid  defense  to  be  made.  This,  of  course,  went  very 
hard  against  us  ;  and  it  was  to  no  purpose  that  we  informed  him  that  Thomas 
McElrath,  though  legally  implicated  in  it,  had  nothing  to  do  practically  with 
this  matter — (all  which  he  knew  very  well  long  before) — and  that  the  other 
defendant  is  the  man  who  does  whatever  libeling  is  done  in  the  Tribune,  and 
holds  himself  everywhere  responsible  for  it.  We  presume  there  is  not  much 
doubt  even  so  far  off  as  Cooperstown  as  to  who  edits  the  Tribune,  and  who 
wrote  the  editorial  about  the  Fonda  business.  (In  point  of  fact,  the  real  and 
palpable  defendant  in  this  suit  never  even  conversed  with  his  partner  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  altogether  about  this  subject,  considering  it  entirely  his  own 
job  ;  and  the  plaintiff  himself,  in  conversation  with  Mr.  McElrath,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  attorney,  had  fully  exonerated  Mr.  M.  from  anything  more  than 
legal  liability.)  But  Richard  was  on  his  legs  as  a  lawyer — he  pointed  to  the 
seal  on  his  bond — and  therefore  insisted  that  Thomas  McElrath  was  art  and 
part  in  the  alleged  libel,  not  only  legally,  but  actually,  and  would  have  been 
present  to  respond  to  it  if  he  had  deemed  it  susceptible  of  defense  !  As  a 
lawyer,  we  suppose  this  was  right ;  but,  as  an  Editor  and  a  man,  we  could  not 

have  done  it." 

w- 

'  Bichard'  gave  way,  and  *  Horace'  addressed  the  jury  in  a  speech 
of  fifty  minutes,  which  need  not  he  inserted  here,  because  all  its 
leading  ideas  are  contained  in  the  narrative.  It  was  a  convincing 
argument,  so  far  as  the  reason  and  justice  of  the  case  were  concern- 
ed ;  and,  in  any  court  where  reason  and  justice  bore  sway,  would 
have  gained  the  case.  "  Should  you  find,  gentleman,"  concluded 
Mr.  Greeley,  "  that  I  had  no  right  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the 
honor  and  magnanimity  of  Mr.  Cooper,  in  pushing  his  case  to  a  trial 
as  related,  you  will  of  course  compel  me  to  pay  whatever  damage 
has  been  done  to  his  character  by  such  expression,  followed  and  ac- 


MR.  COOPER  SUMS  UP.  231 

companied  by  his  own  statement  of  the  whole  matter.  I  will  not 
predict  your  estimate,  gentlemen,  but  I  may  express  my  profound 
conviction  that  no  opinion  which  Mr.  Cooper  might  choose  to  express 
of  any  act  of  my  life — no  construction  he  could  put  upon  my  con- 
duct or  motives,  could  possibly  damage  me  to  an  extent  which 
would  entitle  or  incline  me  to  ask  damages  at  your  hands. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  you  are  bound  to  consider — you  cannot  refuse 
to  consider,  that  if  you  condemn  me  to  pay  any  sum  whatever  for 
this  expression  of  my  opinions  on  his  conduct,  you  thereby  seal  your 
own  lips,  with  those  of  your  neighbors  and  countrymen,  against  any 
such  expression  in  this  or  any  other  case  ;  you  will  no  longer  have 
a  right  to  censure  the  rich  man  who  harasses  his  poor  neighbor  with 
vexatious  lawsuits  merely  to  oppress  and  ruin  him,  but  will  be  lia- 
ble by  your  own  verdict  to  prosecution  and  damages  whenever  you 
shall  feel  constrained  to  condemn  what  appears  to  you  injustice,  op- 
pression, or  littleness,  no  matter  how  flagrant  the  case  may  be. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  my  character,  my  reputation  are  in  your 
hands.  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  commit  them  to  your  keeping  un- 
tarnished ;  I  will  not  doubt  that  you  will  return  them  to  me  unsul- 
lied. I  ask  of  you  no  mercy,  but  justice.  I  have  not  sought  this 
issue ;  but  neither  have  I  feared  or  shunned  it.  Should  you  render 
the  verdict  against  me,  I  shall  deplore  far  more  than  any  pecuniary 
consequence  the  stigma  of  libeler  which  your  verdict  would  tend  to 
cast  upon  me — an  imputation  which  I  was  never,  till  now,  called  to 
repel  before  a  jury  of  my  countrymen.  But,  gentlemen,  feeling  no 
consciousness  of  deserving  such  a  stigma — feeling,  at  this  moment, 
as  ever,  a  profound  conviction  that  I  do  not  deserve  it,  I  shall  yet 
be  consoled  by  the  reflection  that  many  nobler  and  worthier  than  I 
have  suffered  far  more  than  any  judgment  here  could  inflict  on  me 
for  the  Rights  of  Free  Speech  and  Opinion — the  right  of  rebuking 
oppression  and  meanness  in  the  language  of  manly  sincerity  and 
honest  feeling.  By  their  example,  may  I  still  be  upheld  and 
strengthened.  Gentlemen,  I  fearlessly  await  your  decision  !" 

Mr.  Greeley  resumes  his  narrative  : 

"  Mr.  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  summed  up  in  person  the  cause  for  the  prosecution. 
He  commenced  by  giving  at  length  the  reasons  which  had  induced  him  to 
bring  this  suit  hi  Saratoga.  The  last  and  only  one  that  made  any  impression 


232  THE    TRIBUNE   AND   J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

on  our  mind  was  this,  that  he  had  heard  a  great  deal  of  good  of  the  people  of 
Saratoga,  and  wished  to  form  a  better  acquaintance  with  them.  (Of  course 
this  desire  was  very  flattering ;  but  we  hope  the  Saratogans  won't  feel  too 
proud  to  speak  to  common  folds  hereafter,  for  we  want  liberty  to  go  again  next 
summer.) 

"  Mr.  Cooper  now  walked  into  the  Public  Press  and  its  alleged  abuses,  arro- 
gant pretensions,  its  interference  in  this  case,  probable  motives,  etc.,  but  the 
public  are  already  aware  of  his  sentiments  respecting  the  Press,  and  would 
not  thank  us  to  recapitulate  them.  His  stories  of  editors  publishing  truth  and 
falsehood  with  equal  relish  may  have  foundation  in  individual  cases,  but  cer- 
tainly none  in  general  practice.  No  class  of  men  spend  a  tenth  part  so  much 
time  or  money  in  endeavoring  to  procure  the  earliest  and  best  information 
from  all  quarters,  as  it  is  their  duty  to  do.  Occasionally  an  erroneous  or  ut- 
terly false  statement  gets  into  print  and  is  copied — for  editors  cannot  intuitive- 
ly separate  all  truth  from  falsehood — but  the  evil  arises  mainly  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  others  than  editors  are  often  the  spectators  of  events  demand- 
ing publicity ;  since  we  cannot  tell  where  the  next  man  is  to  be  killed,  or  the 
next  storm  rage,  or  the  next  important  cause  to  be  tried :  if  we  had  the 
power  of  prophecy,  it  would  then  be  time  to  invent  some  steam-lightning 
balloon,  and  have  a  reporter  ready  on  the  spot  the  moment  before  any  notable 
event  should  occur.  This  would  do  it ;  but  now  we  luckless  editors  must  too 
often  depend  on  the  observation  and  reports  of  those  who  are  less  observant, 
less  careful,  possibly  in  some  cases  less  sagacious,  than  those  of  our  own  tribe. 
Our  limitations  are  not  unlike  those  of  Mr.  Weller,  Junior,  as  stated  while 
under  cross-examination  in  the  case  of  Bardell  vs.  Pickwick  : 

"  'Yes,  I  have  a  pair  of  eyes,'  replied  Sam,  '  and  that 's  just  it.  If  they 
was  a  pair  of  patent  double  million  magnifyin'  gas  microscopes  of  hextra 
power,  p'raps  I  might  be  able  to  see  through  a  flight  of  stairs  and  a  deal 
door,  but  bein'  only  eyes  you  see,  my  wision's  limited.' 

"  Fenimore  proceeded  to  consider  our  defense,  which  he  used  up  in  five  min- 
utes, by  pronouncing  it  no  defence  at  all !  It  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  mat- 
ter in  issue  whatever,  and  we  must  be  very  green  if  we  meant  to  be  serious 
in  offering  it.  (We  were  rather  green  in  Supreme  Court  libel  law,  that 's  a 
fact ;  but  we  were  put  to  school  soon  after,  and  have  already  run  up  quite  a 
little  bill  for  tuition,  which  is  one  sign  of  progress.)  His  Honor  the  Judge 
would  tell  the  Jury  that  our  law  was  no  law  whatever,  or  had  nothing  to  do 
with  this  case.  (So  he  did — Cooper  was  right  here.)  In  short,  our  speech 
could  not  have  been  meant  to  apply  to  this  case,  but  was  probably  the  scrap- 
ings of  our  editorial  closet — mere  odds  and  ends — what  the  editors  call  '  Ba- 
laam.' Here  followed  a  historical  digression,  concerning  what  editors  call 
'  Balaam,'  which,  as  it  was  intended  to  illustrate  the  irrelevancy  of  our  whole 
argument,  we  thought  very  pertinent.  It  wound  up  with  what  was  meant  for 
a  joke  about  Balaam  and  his  ass,  which  of  course  was  a  good  thing ;  but  its 


MR.  COOPER    SUMS    UP.  2S£ 

point  wholly  escaped  us,  and  we  believe  the  auditors  were  equally  unfortunate. 
However,  the  wag  himself  appreciated  and  enjoyed  it. 

"  There  were  several  other  jokes  (we  suppose  they  were)  uttered  in  the  course 
of  this  lively  speech,  but  we  did  n't  get  into  their  merits,  (probably  not  being 
in  the  best  humor  for  joking ;)  but  one  we  remembered  because  it  was  really 
good,  and  came  down  to  our  comprehension.  Fenimore  was  replying  to  our 
remarks  about  the  {  handsome  Mr.  Effingham,'  (see  speech,)  when  he  observed 
that  if  we  should  sue  him  for  libel  in  '  pronouncing  us  not  handsome,  he  should 
not  plead  the  General  Issue,  but  Justify.'  That  was  a  neat  hit,  and  well 
planted.  We  can  tell  him,  however,  that  if  the  Court  should  rule  as  hard 
against  him  as  it  does  against  editors  when  they  undertake  to  justify,  he  would 
find  it  difficult  to  get  in  the  testimony  to  establish  a  matter  even  so  plain  as 
our  plainness. 

"  Fenimore  now  took  up  the  Fonda  libel  suit,  and  fought  the  whole  battle 
over  again,  from  beginning  to  end.  Now  we  had  scarcely  touched  on  this,  sup- 
posing that,  since  we  did  not  justify,  we  could  only  refer  to  the  statements 
contained  in  the  publications  put  in  issue  between  us,  and  that  the  Judge 
would  check  us,  if  we  went  beyond  these.  Fenimore,  however,  had  no  trou- 
ble ;  said  whatever  he  pleased — much  of  which  would  have  been  very  perti- 
nent if  he,  instead  of  we,  had  been  on  trial — showed  that  he  did  not  believe 
anything  of  Mr.  Weed's  family  being  sick  at  the  time  of  the  Fonda  Trials, 
why  he  did  not,  &c.,  &c.  We  thought  he  might  have  reserved  all  this  till  we 
got  down  to  dinner,  which  everybody  was  now  hungry  for,  and  where  it  would 
have  been  more  in  place  than  addressed  to  the  Jury. 

"Knowing  what  we  positively  did  and  do  of  the  severe  illness  of  the  wife 
of  Mr.  Weed,  and  the  dangerous  state  of  his  eldest  daughter  at  the  time  of  the 
Fonda  Trials  in  question — regarding  them  as  we  do — the  jokes  attempted  to 
be  cut  by  Fenimore  over  their  condition — his  talk  of  the  story  growing  up 
from  one  girl  to  the  mother  and  three  or  four  daughters — his  fun  about  their 
probably  having  the  Asiatic  cholera  among  them  or  some  other  contagious 
disease,  &c.,  Ac.,  however  it  may  have  sounded  to  others,  did  seem  to  us 

rather  inhu Hallo  there !  we  had  like  to  have  put  our  foot  right  into  it 

again,  after  all  our  tuition.  We  mean  to  say,  considering  that,  just  the  day 
before,  Mr.  Weed  had  been  choked  by  his  counsel  into  surrendering  at  dis- 
cretion to  Fenimore,  being  assured  (correctly)  by  said  counsel  that,  as  the  law 
is  now  expounded  and  administered  by  the  Supreme  Court,  he  had  no  earthly 
choice  but  to  bow  his  neck  to  the  yoke,  pay  all  that  might  be  claimed  of  him 
and  publish  whatever  humiliations  should  be  required,  or  else  prepare  to  bo 
immediately  ruined  by  the  suits  which  Fenimore  and  Richard  had  already 
commenced  or  were  getting  ready  for  him — considering  all  this,  and  how  much 
Mr.  Weed  has  paid  and  must  pay  towards  his  subsistence — how  keenly  W.  has 
had  to  smart  for  his  speaking  his  mind  of  him — we  did  not  think  that  Feni- 
more's  talk  at  this  time  and  place  of  Weed's  family,  and  of  Weed  himsalf  as 


234  THE    TRIBUNE   AND    J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

a  man  so  paltry  that  he  would  pretend  to  sickness  in  his  family  as  an  excuse  to 
keep  away  from  Court,  and  resort  to  trick  after  trick  to  put  off  his  case  for  a 
day  or  two — it  seemed  to  us,  considering  the  present  relations  of  the  parties, 

most  ungen There  we  go  again  !     We  mean  to  say  that  the  whole  of  this 

part  of  Mr.  Cooper's  speech  grated  upon  our  feelings  rather  harshly.  We  be- 
lieve that  isn't  a  libel.  (This  talking  with  a  gag  in  the  mouth  is  rather  awk- 
ward at  first,  but  we  '11  get  the  hang  of  it  in  time.  Have  patience  with  us, 
Fenimore  on  one  side  and  the  Public  on  the  other,  till  we  nick  it.) 

********* 

"  Personally,  Fenimore  treated  us  pretty  well  on  this  trial — let  us  thank 
him  for  that — and  so  much  the  more  that  he  did  it  quite  at  the  expense  of  his 
consistency  and  his  logic.  For,  after  stating  plumply  that  he  considered  us 
the  best  of  the  whole  Press-gang  he  had  been  fighting  with,  he  yet  went  on  to 
argue  that  all  we  had  done  and  attempted  with  the  intent  of  rendering  him  strict 
justice,  had  been  in  aggravation  of  our  original  trespass  !  Yes,  there  he  stood, 
saying  one  moment  that  we  were,  on  the  whole,  rather  a  clever  fellow,  and 
every  other  arguing  that  we  had  done  nothing  but  to  injure  him  wantonly  and 
maliciously  at  first,  and  then  all  in  our  power  to  aggravate  that  injury ! 
(What  a  set  the  rest  of  us  must  be  !) 

"  And  here  is  where  he  hit  us  hard  for  the  first  time.  He  had  talked  over 
an  hour  without  gaining,  as  we  could  perceive,  an  inch  of  ground.  When  his 
compliment  was  put  in,  we  supposed  he  was  going  on  to  say  he  was  satisfied 
with  our  explanation  of  the  matter  and  our  intentions  to  do  him  justice,  and 
would  now  throw  up  the  case.  But  instead  of  this  he  took  a  sheer  the  other 
way,  and  came  down  upon  us  with  the  assertion  that  our  publishing  his  state- 
ment of  the  Fonda  business  with  our  comments,  was  an  aggravation  of  our 
original  offense — was  in  effect  adding  insult  io  injury  ! 

*  *  **  *     ^      *  * 

"  There  was  a  little  point  made  by  the  prosecution  which  seemed  to  us  too 
little.  Our  Fonda  letter  had  averred  that  Cooper  had  three  libel-suits  coming 
off  there  at  that  Circuit — two  against  Webb,  one  against  Weed.  Richard  and 
Fenimore  argued  that  this  was  a  lie — the  one  against  Weed  was  all.  The 
nicety  of  the  distinction  here  taken  will  be  appreciated  when  we  explain  that 
the  suits  against  Webb  were  indictments  for  libels  on  J.  Fenimore  Cooper ! 

"  We  supposed  that  Fenimore  would  pile  up  the  law  against  us,  but  were 
disappointed.  He  merely  cited  the  last  case  decided  against  an  Editor  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  this  State.  Of  course,  it  was  very  fierce  against  Editors 
and  their  libels,  but  did  not  strike  us  as  at  all  meeting  the  issue  we  had 
raised,  or  covering  the  grounds  on  which  this  case  ought  to  have  been  decided. 

"  Fenimore  closed  very  effectively  with  an  appeal  for  his  character,  and  a 
picture  of  the  sufferings  of  his  wife  and  family — his  grown-up  daughters  often 
suffused  in  tears  by  these  attacks  on  their  father.  Some  said  this  was  mawk- 
ish, but  we  consider  it  good,  and  think  it  told.  We  have  a  different  theory  as 


THE    VERDICT.  235 

to  what  the  girls  were  crying  for,  but  we  won't  state  it  lest  another  dose  of 
Supreme  Court  law  be  administered  to  us.  ('Not  anymore  at  present,  I 
thank  ye'  ?) 

"Fenimore  closed  something  before  two  o'clock,  having  spoken  over  an  hour 
and  a  half.  If  he  had  not  wasted  so  much  time  in  promising  to  make  but  a 
short  speech  and  to  close  directly,  he  could  have  got  through  considerably 
sooner.  Then  he  did  wrong  to  Richard  by  continually  recurring  to  and  ful- 
some eulogiums  on  the  argument  of  '  my  learned  kinsman.5  Richard  had 
made  a  good  speech  and  an  effective  one — no  mistake  about  it — and  Fenimore 
must  mar  it  first  by  needless  provoking  interruptions,  and  then  by  praises 
which,  though  deserved,  were  horribly  out  of  place  and  out  of  taste.  Feni- 
more, my  friend,  you  and  I  had  better  abandon  the  Bar — we  are  not  likely 
either  of  us  to  cut  much  of  a  figure  there.  Let  us  quit  before  we  make  our- 
selves ridiculous. 

"His  Honor  Judge  Willard  occupied  a  brief  half  hour  in  charging  the 
Jury.  We  could  not  decently  appear  occupied  in  taking  down  this  Charge, 
and  no  one  else  did  it — so  we  must  speak  of  it  with  great  circumspection.  That 
he  would  go  dead  against  us  on  the  Law  of  the  case  we  knew  right  well,  from 
his  decisions  and  charges  on  similar  trials  before.  Not  having  his  Law  points 
before  us,  we  shall  not  venture  to  speak  of  them.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
they  were  New  York  Supreme  and  Circuit  Court  Law — no  better  and  no  worse 
than  he  has  measured  off  to  several  editorial  culprits  before  us.  They  are 
the  settled  maxims  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State  in  regard  to  the  law 
of  libel  as  applied  to  Editors  and  Newspapers,  and  we  must  have  been  a  goose 
to  expect  any  better  than  had  been  served  out  to  our  betters.  The  Judge 
was  hardly,  if  at  all,  at  liberty  to  know  or  tolerate  any  other. 

******* 

"But  we  have  filled  our  paper,  and  must  close.  The  Judge  charged  very 
hard  against  us  on  the  facts  of  the  case,  as  calling  for  a  pretty  sizable  verdict — 
our  legal  guilt  had  of  course  been  settled  long  before  in  the  Supreme  Court. 

"When  the  Charge  commenced,  we  would  not  have  given  Fenimore  the 
first  red  cent  for  his  verdict ;  when  it  closed,  we  understood  that  we  were 
booked  to  suffer  some.  If  the  Jury  had  returned  a  verdict  in  our  favor, 
the  Judge  must  have  been  constrained  by  his  charge  to  set  it  aside,  as 
contrary  to  law. 

"  The  Jury  retired  about  half-past  two,  and  the  rest  of  us  went  to  dinner. 
The  Jury  were  hungry  too,  and  did  not  stay  out  long.  On  comparing  notes, 
there  were  seven  of  them  for  a  verdict  of  $100,  two  for  $200,  and  three  for 
$500.  They  added  these  sums  up— total  $2,600— divided  by  12,  and  the 
dividend  was  a  little  over  $200  ;  so  they  called  it  $200  damages  and  six 
cents  costs,  which  of  course  carries  full  costs  against  us.  We  went  back 
from  dinner,  took  the  verdict  in  all  meekness,  took  a  sleigh,  and  struck  a 
bee-line  for  New  York." 


236        THE  TRIBUNE  AND  J.  FENIMORE  COOPER. 

"Thus  for  the  Tribune  the  rub-a-dub  is  over ;  the  adze  we  trust  laid  aside. y 
the  staves  all  in  their  places  ;  the  hoops  tightly  driven  ;  and  the  heading  not 
particularly  out  of  order.  Nothing  remains  but  to  pay  piper,  or  cooper,  or 
whatever ;  and  that  shall  be  promptly  attended  to. 

"  Yes,  Fenimore  shall  have  Ms  $200.  To  be  sure,  we  don't  exactly  see  how 
we  came  to  owe  him  that  sum  ;  but  he  has  won  it,  and  shall  be  paid.  '  The 
court  awards  it,  and  the  law  doth  give  it.'  We  should  like  to  meet  him  and 
have  a  social  chat  over  the  whole  business,  now  it  is  over.  There  has  been  a 
good  deal  of  fun  in  it,  come  to  look  back  ;  and  if  he  has  as  little  ill-will  to- 
ward us  as  we  bear  to  him,  there  shall  never  be  another  hard  thought  between 
us.  We  don't  blame  him  a  bit  for  the  whole  matter  ;  he  thought  we  injured 
him,  sued  us,  and  got  his  pay.  Since  the  Jury  have  cut  down  his  little  bill 
from  $3,000  to  $200,  we  won't  higgle  a  bit  about  the  balance,  but  pay  it  on 
sight.  In  fact,  we  rather  like  the  idea  of  being  so  munificent  a  patron  (for 
our  means)  of  American  Literature  ;  and  are  glad  to  do  anything  for  one  of 
the  most  creditable  (of  old)  of  our  authors,  who  are  now  generally  reduced  to 
any  shift  for  a  living  by  that  grand  National  rascality  and  greater  folly,  the 
denial  of  International  Copyright.  ('My  pensive  public,'  don't  flatter  yourself 
that  we  are  to  be  rendered  mealy-mouthed  toward  you  by  our  buffeting.  We 
shall  put  it  to  your  iniquities  just  as  straight  as  a  loon's  leg,  calling  a  spade 
a  spade,  and  not  an  oblong  garden  implement,  until  the  judicial  construction 
of  the  law  of  libel  shall  take  another  hitch,  and  its  penalties  be  invoked  to 
shield  communities  as  well  as  individuals  from  censure  for  their  transgressions. 
Till  then,  keep  a  bright  look  out !) 

"  And  Richard,  too,  shall  have  his  share  of  '  the  spoils  of  victory.'  He  has 
earned  them  fairly,  and,  in  the  main,  liko  a  gentleman — making  us  no  need- 
less trouble,  and  we  presume  no  needless  expense.  All  was  fair  and  above 
board,  save  some  little  specks  in  his  opening  of  the  case,  which  we  noticed 
some  hours  ago,  and  have  long  since  forgiven.  For  the  rest,  we  rather  like 
what  we  have  seen  of  him  ;  and  if  anybody  has  any  law  business  in  Otsego,  or 
any  libel  suits  to  prosecute  anywhere,  we  heartily  recommend  Richard  to  do 
the  work,  warranting  the  client  to  be  handsomely  taken  in  and  done  for 
throughout.  (There  's  a  puff,  now,  a  man  may  be  proud  of.  We  don't  give 
such  every  day  out  of  pure  kindness.  It  was  Fenimore,  we  believe,  that  said 
on  the  trial,  that  our  word  went  a  great  way  in  this  country.)  Can  we  say  a 
good  word  for  you,  gallant  foeman  ?  We  '11  praise  any  thing  of  yours  we 
have  read  except  the  Monikins. 

"  But  sadder  thoughts  rush  in  on  us  in  closing.  Our  case  is  well  enough, 
or  of  no  moment ;  but  we  cannot  resist  the  conviction  that  by  the  result  of 
these  Cooper  libel-suits,  and  by  the  Judicial  constructions  which  produce  that 
result,  the  Liberty  of  the  Press — its  proper  influence  and  respectability,  its 
power  to  rebuke  wrong  and  to  exert  a  salutary  influence  upon  the  Public  Mor- 
als, is  fearfully  impaired.  We  do  not  see  how  any  paper  can  exist,  and  speak 


A  NEW  SUIT. 

and  act  worthily  and  usefully  in  this  State,  without  subjecting  itself  daily  to 
innumerable,  unjust  and  crushing  prosecutions,  and  indictments  for  libel. 
Even  if  Juries  could  have  nerves  of  iron  to  say  and  do  what  they  really  think 
right  between  man  and  man,  the  costs  of  such  prosecution  would  ruin  any 
journal.  But  the  Liberty  of  the  Press  has  often  been  compelled  to  appeal 
from  the  bench  to  the  people.  It  will  do  so  now,  and  we  will  not  doubt  with 
success.  Let  not,  then,  the  wrong-doer  who  is  cunning  enough  to  keep  the 
blind  side  of  the  law,  the  swindling  banker  Who  has  spirited  away  the  means 
of  the  widow  and  orphan,  the  libertine  who  has  dragged  a  fresh  victim  to  his 
lair,  imagine  that  they  are  permanently  shielded,  by  this  misapplication  of 
the  law  of  libel,  from  fearless  exposure  to  public  scrutiny  and  indignation  by 
the  eagle  gaze  of  an  unfettered  Press.  Clouds  and  darkness  may  for  the 
moment  rest  upon  it,  but  they  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things,  endure.  In 
the  very  gloom  of  its  present  humiliation  we  read  the  prediction  of  its  speedy 
and  certain  restoration  to  its  rights  and  its  true  dignity — -to  a  sphere  not  of 
legal  sufferance  merely,  but  of  admitted  usefulness  and  honor." 

This  narrative,  which  came  within  three-quarters  of  a  column  of 
filling  the  entire  inside  of  the  Tribune,  and  must  have  covered  fifty 
pages  of  foolscap,  was  written  at  the  rate  of  about  a  column  an 
hour.  It  set  the  town  laughing,  elicited  favorable  notices  from  more 
than  two  hundred  papers,  and  provoked  the  novelist  to  new  anger, 
and  another  suit ;  in  which  the  damages  were  laid  at  three  thousand 
dollars.  "We  have  a  lively  trust,  however,"  said  the  offending  edi- 
tor, "that  we  shall  convince  the  jury  that  we  do  not  owe  him  the 
first  red  cent  of  it."  This  is  one  paragraph  of  the  new  complaint : 

"And  the  said  plaintiff  further  says  and  avers  that  the  syllables  inhu,  fol- 
lowed by  a  dash,  when  they  occur  in  the  publication  hereinafter  set  forth,  as 

follows,  to  wit,  inhu ,  were  meant  and  intended  by  the  said  defendants  for 

the  word  inhuman,  and  that  the  said  defendants,  in  using  the  aforesaid  sylla- 
bles, followed  by  a  dash  as  aforesaid,  in  connection  with  the  context,  intended 
to  convey,  and  did  convey,  the  idea  that  the  said  plaintiff,  on  the  occasion  re- 
ferred to  in  that  part  of  said  publication,  had  acted  in  an  inhuman  manner. 
And  the  said  plaintiff  also  avers  that  the  syllable  ungen,  followed  by  a  dash, 

as  follows,  to  wit,  ungen ,  when  they  occur  in  the  publication  hereinafter 

set  forth,  were  meant  and  intended  by  the  said  defendants  either  for  the  word 
ungenerous  or  the  word  ungentlemanly,  and  that  the  said  defendants,  in  using 
the  syllables  last  aforesaid,  followed  by  a  dash  as  aforesaid,  in  connection  with 
the  context,  intended  to  convey,  and  did  convey,  the  idea  that  the  said  plain- 
tiff, on  the  occasion  referred  to  in  that  part  of  said  publication,  had  acted 


238  THE    TRIBUNE    AND   J.  FENIMORE    COOPER. 

either  in  a  most  ungenerous  or  a  most  ungentlemanly  manner,  to  wit,  at  the 
place  and  in  the  county  aforesaid." 

In  an  article  commenting  upon  the  writ,  the  editor,  after  repel- 
ling the  charge,  that  his  account  of  the  trial  was  'replete  with 
errors  of  fact,'  pointedly  addressed  his  distinguished  adversary  thus  : 

"  But,  Fenimore,  do  hear  reason  a  minute.  This  whole  business  is  ridicu- 
lous. If  you  would  simply  sue  those  of  the  Press-gang  who  displease  you,  it 
would  not  be  so  bad ;  but  you  sue  and  write  too,  which  is  not  the  fair  thing. 
What  use  in  belittling  the  profession  of  Literature  by  appealing  from  its 
courts  to  those  of  Law  1  We  ought  to  litigate  upward,  not  down.  Now,  Fen- 
imore, you  push  a  very  good  quill  of  your  own  except  when  you  attempt  to 
be  funny — there  you  break  down.  But  in  the  way  of  cutting  and  slashing  you 
are  No.  one,  and  you  don't  seem  averse  to  it  either.  Then  why  not  settle 
this  difference  at  the  point  of  the  pen  ?  We  hereby  tender  you  a  column  a 
day  of  The  Tribune  for  ten  days,  promising  to  publish  verbatim  whatever  you 
may  write  and  put  your  name  to — and  to  publish  it  in  both  our  daily  and 
weekly  papers.  You  may  give  your  view  of  the  whole  controversy  between 
yourself  and  the  Press,  tell  your  story  of  the  Ballston  Trial,  and  cut  us  up  to 
your  heart's  content.  We  will  further  agree  not  to  write  over  two  columns  in 
reply  to  the  whole.  Now  why  is  not  this  better  than  invoking  the  aid  of  John 
Doe  and  Richard  Roe  (no  offense  to  Judge  W.  and  your  'learned  kinsman!') 
in  the  premises  ?  Be  wise,  now,  most  chivalrous  antagonist,  and  don't  detract 
from  the  dignity  of  your  profession  !" 

Mr.  Cooper,  we  may  infer,  'became  wise ;  for  the  suit  never  came 
to  trial ;  nor  did  he  accept  the  Tribune's  offer  of  a  column  a  day 
for  ten  days.  For  one  more  editorial  article  on  the  subject  room 
must  be  afforded,  and  with  that,  our  chapter  on  the  Cooperage  of 
the  Tribune  may  have  an  end. 

"Our  friend  Fenimore  Cooper,  it  will  be  remembered,  chivalrously  declared, 
in  his  summing  up  at  Ballston,  that  if  we  were  to  sue  him  for  a  libel  in  assert- 
ing our  personal  uncomeliness,  he  should  not  plead  the  General  Issue,  but 
Justify.  To  a  plain  man,  this  would  seem  an  easy  and  safe  course.  But  let 
us  try  it :  Fenimore  has  the  audacity  to  say  we  are  not  handsome  ;  we  employ 
Richard — we  presume  he  has  no  aversion  to  a  good  fee,  even  if  made  of  the 
Editorial  '  sixpences '  Fenimore  dilated  on — and  commence  our  action,  laying 
the  venue  in  St.  Lawrence,  Alleghany,  or  some  other  county  where  our  personal 
appearance  is  not  notorious ;  and,  if  the  Judge  should  be  a  friend  of  ours,  so 
much  the  better.  Well :  Fenimore  boldly  pleads  Justification,  thinking  it  as 
easy  as  not.  But  how  is  he  to  establish  it  ?  We  of  course  should  not  be  so 


AN    IMAGINARY    CASE.  239 

green  as  to  attend  the  Trial  in  person  in  such  an  issue — no  man  is  obliged  to 
make  out  his  adversary's  case — but  would  leave  it  all  to  Richard,  and  the 
help  the  Judge  might  properly  give  him.  So  the  case  is  on,  and  Fenirnore 
undertakes  the  Justification,  which  of  course  admits  and  aggravates  the  libel ; 
so  our  side  is  all  made  out.  But  let  us  see  how  he  gets  along  :  of  course,  he 
will  not  think  of  offering  witnesses  to  swear  point-blank  that  we  are  homely — 
that,  if  he  did  not  know  it,  the  Judge  would  soon  tell  him  would  be  a  simple 
opinion^  which  would  not  do  to  go  to  a  Jury  ;  he  must  present  facts. 

"  Fenimore. — '  Well,  then,  your  Honor,  I  offer  to  prove  by  this  witness  that 
the  plaintiff  is  tow-headed,  and  half  bald  at  that ;  he  is  long-legged,  gaunt, 
and  most  cadaverous  of  visage — ergo,  homely.' 

"Judge. — 'How  does  that  follow?  Light  hair  and  fair  face  bespeak  a 
purely  Saxon  ancestry,  and  were  honorable  in  the  good  old  days  :  I  rule  that 
they  are  comely.  Thin  locks  bring  out  the  phrenological  developments,  you 
see,  and  give  dignity  and  massiveness  to  the  aspect ;  and  as  to  slenderness, 
what  do  our  dandies  lace  for  if  that  is  not  graceful  1  They  ought  to  know 
what  is  attractive,  I  reckon.  No,  sir.  your  proof  is  irrelevant,  and  I  rule  it 
out.' 

"  Fenimore  (the  sweat  starting). — 'Well,  your  Honor,  I  have  evidence  to 
prove  the  said  plaintiff  slouching  in  dress  ;  goes  bent  like  a  hoop,  and  so  rock- 
ing in  gait  that  he  walks  down  both  sides  of  a  street  at  once.' 

"Judge. — '  That  to  prove  homeliness  ?  I  hope  you  don't  expect  a  man  of 
ideas  to  spend  his  precious  time  before  a  looking-glass  1  It  would  be  robbing 
the  public.  "Bent,"  do  you  say?  Isn't  the  curve  the  true  line  of  beauty, 
I  'd  like  to  know?  Where  were  you  brought  up?  As  to  walking,  you  don't 
expect  "  a  man  of  mark,"  as  you  called  him  at  Ballston,  to  be  quite  as  dapper 
and  pert  as  a  footman,  whose  walk  is  his  hourly  study  and  his  nightly  dream 
— its  perfection  the  sum  of  his  ambition !  Great  ideas  of  beauty  you  must 
have  !  That  evidence  won't  answer.' 

"Now,  Fenimore,  brother  in  adversity  !  wouldn't  you  begin  to  have  a  re- 
alizing sense  of  your  awful  situation ?  Wouldn't  you  begin  to  wish  yourself 
somewhere  else,  and  a  great  deal  further,  before  you  came  into  Court  to  jus- 
tify legally  an  opinion?  Wouldn't  you  begin  to  perceive  that  the  application 
of  the  Law  of  Libel  in  its  strictness  to  a  mere  expression  of  opinion  is  absurd, 
mistaken,  and  tyrannical  ? 

"  Of  course,  we  shan't  take  advantag'e  of  your  exposed  and  perilous  condi- 
tion, for  we  are  meek  and  forgiving,  with  a  hearty  disrelish  for  the  machinery 
of  the  law.  But  if  we  had  a  mind  to  take  hold  of  you,  with  Richard  to  help 
us,  and  the  Supreme  Court's  ruling  in  actions  of  libel  at  our  back,  wouldn't 
you  catch  it  ?  We  should  get  the  whole  Fund  back  again,  and  give  a  dinner 
to  the  numerous  Editorial  contributors.  That  dinner  would  be  worth  attend- 
ing, Fenimore ;  and  we  '11  warrant  the  jokes  to  average  a  good  deal  better  than 
those  you  cracked  in  your  speech  at  Ballston." 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    TRIBUNE    CONTINUES. 

The  Special  Express  system — Night  adventures  of  Enoch  Ward — Gig  Express — Ex- 
press from  Halifax— Baulked  by  the  snow-drifta— Party  warfare  then— Books  pub- 
lished by  Greeley  and  McElrath— Course  of  the  Tribune— The  Editor  travels^ 
Scenes  in  Washington— An  incident  of  travel— Clay  and  Frelinghuysen— The  exer- 
tions of  Horace  Greeley— Results  of  the  defeat—The  Tribune  and  Slavery— Burn- 
ing of  the  Tribune  Building— The  Editor's  reflections  upon  the  fire* 

WHAT  gunpowder,  improved  fire-arms,  and  drilling  have  done  for 
war,  the  railroad  and  telegraph  have  done  for  the  daily  press, 
namely,  reduced  success  to  an  affair  of  calculation  and  expenditure. 
Twelve  years  ago,  there  was  a  chance  for  the  display  of  individual 
enterprise,  daring,  prowess,  in  procuring  news,  and,  above  all,  in  be- 
ing the  first  to  announce  it ;  which  was,  is,  and  ever  will  be,  the 
point  of  competition  with  daily  papers.  Those  were  the  days  of 
the  Special  Expresses,  which  appear  to  have  been  run,  regardless 
of  expense,  horseflesh,  and  safety,  and  in  the  running  of  which  in- 
credible things  were  achieved.  Not  reporters  alone  were  then 
sent  to  remote  places  to  report  an  expected  speech.  The  reporters 
were  accompanied,  sometimes,  by  a  rider,  sometimes  by  a  corps  of 
printers  with  fonts  of  type,  who  set  up  the  speech  on  the  special 
steamboat  as  fast  as  the  reporters  could  write  it  out,  and  had  it 
ready  for  the  press  before  the  steamboat  reached  the  city.  Wonder- 
ful things  were  done  by  special  express  in  those  days ;  for  the  com- 
petition between  the  rival  papers  was  intense  beyond  description. 

Take  these  BIX  paragraphs  from  the  Tribune  as  the  sufficient  and 
striking  record  of  a  state  of  things  long  past  away.  They  need  no 
explanation  or  connecting  remark.  Perhaps  they  will  astonish  the 
young  reader  rather : 

"  The  Governor's  Message  reached  Wall  street  last  evening,  at  nine.  The 
contract  was  for  three  riders  and  ton  relays  of  horses,  and  the  Express  was  to 
etart  at  12  o'clock,  M.,  and  reach  this  city  at  10  in  the  evening.  It  is  not 


THE    SPECIAL    EXPRESS    SYSTEM.  241 

known  here  whether  the  arrangements  at  the  other  end  of  the  route  were 
strictly  adhered  to  ;  but  if  they  were,  and  the  Express  started  at  tho  hour 
agreed  upon,  it  came  through  in  nine  hours,  making  but  a  fraction  less  than 
eighteen  miles  an  hour,  which  seems  almost  incredible.  It  is  not  impossible 
that  it  started  somewhat  before  the  time  agreed  upon,  and  quite  likely  that  ex- 
tra riders  and  horses  were  employed  ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  the  dispatch  is 
almost — if  not  quite — unparalleled  in  this  country." 


"  Our  express,  (Mr.  Enoch  Ward,)  with  returns  of  the  Connecticut  Election, 
left  New  Haven  Monday  evening,  in  a  light  sulky,  at  twenty-five  minutes  be- 
fore ten  o'clock,  having  been  detained  thirty-five  minutes  by  the  non-arrival 
of  tho  Express  locomotive  from  Hartford.  He  reached  Stamford — forty  miles 
from  New  Haven — in  three  hours.  Here  it  commenced  snowing,  and  the  night 
was  so  exceedingly  dark  that  he  could  not  travel  without  much  risk.  He  kept 
on,  however,  with  commendable  zeal,  determined  not  to  be  conquered  by  any 
ordinary  obstacles.  Just  this  side  of  New  Rochelle,  and  while  descending  a 
hill,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  run  upon  a  horse  which  was  apparantly  stand- 
ing still  in  the  road.  The  horse  was  mounted  by  a  man  who  must  have  been 
asleep  ;  otherwise  ho  would  have  got  out  of  the  way.  The  breast  of  the  horse 
came  in  contact  with  the  sulky  between  the  wheel  and  the  shaft.  The  effect 
of  tho  concussion  was  to  break  the  wheel  of  the  sulky  by  wrenching  out  nearly 
all  the  spokes.  The  night  was  so  dark  that  nothing  whatever  could  be  seen, 
and  it  is  not  known  whether  the  horse  and  the  stranger  received  any  material 
injury.  Mr.  Ward  then  took  the  harness  from  his  horse,  mounted  him  with- 
out a  saddle,  and  came  on  to  this  city,  a  distance  of  seventeen  miles,  arriving 
at  five  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning." 


"  It  will  be  recollected  that  a  great  ado  was  made  upon  the  receipt  in  this 
city  of  the  Acadia's  news  by  two  of  our  journals,  inasmuch  as  no  other  papsr 
received  the  advices,  one  of  them  placarding  the  streets  with  announcements 
that  the  news  was  received  by  special  and  exclusive  express.  Now,  the  facts 
are  these  :  The  Acadia  arrived  at  Boston  at  half-past  three  o'clock,  the  cars 
leaving  at  four  ;  in  coming  to  her  wharf  she  struck  her  bow  against  the  dock 
and  immediately  revejsed  her  wheels,  put  out  again  into  the  bay,  and  did 
not  reach  her  berth  until  past  four.  But  two  persons,  belonging  to  the  offices 
of  the  Atlas  and  Times,  jumped  on  board  at  the  moment  the  ship  struck  the 
wharf,  obtained  their  packages,  and  threw  them  into  the  water,  whence  they 
were  taken  and  put  into  a  gig  and  taken  to  the  depot.  '  Thus,'  said  the  Com- 
mercial, from  which  we  gather  the  facts  stated  above  { the  gig  was  the  "  Spe- 
cial Express,"  and  its  tremendous  run  was  from  Long  Wharf  to  tho  depot — 
about  one  mile  !J  " 

"  The  news  by  the  next  steamer  is  looked  for  with  intense  interest,  and  in 

11 


242  THE    TRIBUNE    CONTINUES. 

order  to  place  it  before  our  readers  at  an  early  moment,  we  made  arrange- 
ments some  weeks  since  to  start  a  horse  Express  from  Halifax  across  Nova 
Scotia  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  there  to  meet  a  powerful  steamer  which  will 
convey  our  Agent  and  Messenger  to  Portland.  At  the  latter  place  we  run 
a  Locomotive  Express  to  Boston,  whence  we  express  it  by  steam  and  horse- 
power to  New  York.  Should  no  unforeseen  accident  occur,  we  will  be  enabled 
by  this  Express  to  publish  the  news  in  New  York  some  ten,  or  perhaps  fifteen 
or  twenty  hours  before  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  in  Boston.  The  extent  of 
this  enterprise  may  in  part  be  judged  of  by  the  fact,  that  we  pay  no  less  than 
Eighteen  Hundred  Dollars  for  the  single  trip  of  the  steamer  on  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  !  It  is  but  fair  to  add  that,  in  this  Express,  we  were  joined  from  the 
commencement  by  the  Sun  of  this  city,  and  the  North  American  of  Phila- 
delphia ;  and  the  Journal  of  Commerce  has  also  since  united  with  us  in  the 
enterprise." 

"  We  were  beaten  with  the  news  yesterday  morning,  owing  to  circumstances 
which  no  human  energy  could  overcome.  In  spite  of  the  great  snow-storm, 
which  covered  Nova  Scotia  with  drifts  several  feet  high,  impeding  and  often 
overturning  our  express-sleigh — in  defiance  of  hard  ice  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
and  this  side,  often  18  inches  thick,  through  which  our  steamboat  had  to  plow 
her  way — we  brought  the  news  through  to  Boston  in  thirty-one  hours  from 
Halifax,  several  hours  ahead  of  the  Cambria  herself.  Thence  it  ought  to  have 
reached  this  city  by  6  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  in  ample  season  to  have 
gone  south  in  the  regular  mail  train.  It  was  delayed,  however,  by  unforeseen 
and  unavoidable  disasters,  and  only  reached  New  Haven  after  it  should  have 
been  in  this  city.  From  New  Haven  it  was  brought  hither  in  four  hours  and 
a  half  by  our  ever-trusty  rider,  Enoch  Ward,  who  never  lets  the  grass  grow  ta 
the  heels  of  his  horses.  He  came  in  a  little  after  11  o'clock,  but  the  rival  ex- 
press had  got  in  over  two  hours  earlier,  having  made  the  shortest  run  from 
Boston  on  record." 


"  The  Portland  Bulletin  has  been  unintentionally  led  into  the  gross  error  of 
believing  the  audacious  fabrication  that  Bennett's  express  came  through  to 
this  city  in  seven  hours  and  five  minutes  from  Boston,  beating  ours  Jive  or  six 
hours !  That  express  left  Boston  at  11  P.  M.  of  Wednesday,  and  arrived  here 
20  minutes  past  9  on  Thursday — actual  time  on  the  road,  over  ten  hours.  The 
Bulletin  further  says  that  our  express  was  sixteen  hours  on  the  road.  No  such 
thing.  We  lost  some  fifteen  minutes  at  the  ferry  on  the  east  side  of  Boston. 
Then  a  very  short  time  (instead  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  as  is  reported  by  the 
express)  in  finding  our  agent  in  Boston ;  then  an  hour  in  firing  up  an  engine  and 
getting  away  from  Boston,  where  all  should  have  been  ready  for  us,  but  was  not. 
The  locomotive  was  over  two  hours  in  making  the  run  to  Worcester — 42  miles — 
though  the  Herald  runner  who  came  through  on  the  arrival  of  the  Cambria 


PARTY    WARFARE    THEN.  243 

some  time  after,  was  carried  over  it  in  about  half  the  time,  with  not  one-fourth 
the  delay  we  encountered  at  the  depot  in  Boston.  (We  could  guess  how  all 
this  was  brought  about,  but  it  would  answer  no  purpose  now.)  At  Worcester, 
Mr.  Twitchell  (whom  our  agent  on  this  end  had  only  been  able  to  find  on 
Tuesday,  having  been  kept  two  days  on  the  route  to  Boston  by  a  storm,  and 
then  finding  Mr.  T.  absent  in  New  Hampshire)  was  found  in  bed,  but  got  up 
and  put  off,  intending  to  ride  but  one  stage.  At  its  end,  however,  he  found 
the  rider  he  had  hired  sick,  and  had  to  come  along  himself.  At  one  stopping- 
place,  he  found  his  horse  amiss,  and  had  to  buy  one  before  he  could  proceed. 
When  he  reached  Hartford  (toward  morning)  there  was  no  engine  fired  up,  no 
one  ready,  and  another  hour  was  lost  there.  At  New  Haven  our  rider  was 
asleep,  and  much  time  was  lost  in  finding  him  and  getting  off.  Thus  we  lost 
in  delays  which  we  could  not  foresee  or  prevent  over  three  hours  this  side  of 
Boston  ferry, — the  Cambria  having  arrived  two  or  three  days  earlier  than  she 
was  expected,  before  our  arrangements  could  be  perfected,  and  on  the  only 
night  of  the  week  that  the  rival  express  could  have  beaten  even  our  bad  time, 
— the  Long  Island  Railroad  being  obstructed  with  snow  both  before  and  after- 
ward. The  Herald  express  came  in  at  20  minutes  past  9;  our  express  was 
here  at  15  minutes  past  12,  or  less  than  three  hours  afterward.  Such  are 
the  facts.  The  express  for  the  U.  S.  Gazette  crossed  the  ferry  to  Jersey  City 
at  10£  instead  of  llj,  as  we  mis-stated  recently." 


That  will  do  for  the  curiosities  of  the  Special  Express.  Another 
feature  has  vanished  from  the  press  of  this  country,  since  those 
paragraphs  were  written.  The  leading  journals  are  no  longer  party 
journals.  There  are  no  parties ;  and  this  fact  has  changed  the  look, 
and  tone,  and  manner  of  newspapers  in  a  remarkable  degree.  As 
a  curiosity  of  old-fashioned  party  politics,  and  as  an  illustration  of 
the  element  in  which  and  with  which  our  hero  was  compelled  oc- 
casionally to  labor,  I  am  tempted  to  insert  here  a  few  paragraphs 
of  one  of  his  day-of-the-election  articles.  Think  of  the  Tribune  of 
to-day,  and  judge  of  the  various  progress  it  and  the  country  have 
made,  since  an  article  like  the  following  could  have  seemed  at  home 
in  its  columns. 

THE   WARDS  ARE   AWAKE! 

"  OLD  FIRST  !  Steady  and  true  !  A  split  on  men  has  aroused  her  to 
bring  out  her  whole  force,  which  will  tell  nobly  on  the  Mayor.  Friends  !  fight 
out  your  Collector,  split  fairly,  like  men,  and  be  good  friends  as  ever  at  sunset 
to-day ;  but  be  sure  not  to  throw  away  your  Assistant  Alderman.  We  set 
you  down  600  for  Robert  Smith. 


244  THE  TRIBUNE  CONTINUES. 

"SAUCY  SECOND  !  Never  a  Loco  has  a  look  here  !  Our  friends  are  uni' 
ted,  and  have  done  their  work,  though  making  no  noise  about  it.  We  count 
on  400  for  Smith. 

"  GALLANT  THIRD  !  You  are  wanted  for  the  full  amount !  Things  are 
altogether  too  sleepy  here.  Why  won't  somebody  run  stump,  or  get  up  a 
volunteer  ticket?  We  see  that  the  Loco-Foco  Collector  has  Whig  ballots 
printed  with  his  name  on  them !  This  ought  to  arouse  all  the  friends  of  the 
clean  Whig  Ticket.  Come  out,  Whigs  of  the  Third  !  and  pile  up  700  major- 
ity for  Robert  Smith  !  One  less  is  unworthy  of  you  ;  and  you  can  give  more 
if  you  try.  But  let  it  go  at  700." 

********* 

"  BLOODY  SIXTH  !  We  won 't  tell  all  we  hope  from  this  ward,  but  we 
know  Aid.  CROLIUS  is  popular,  as  is  OWEN  W.  BRENNAN,  our  Collector,  and 
we  feel  quite  sure  of  their  election.  We  know  that  yesterday  the  Locos  were 
afraid  Shaler  would  decline,  as  they  said  his  friends  would  vote  for  Crolius 
rather  than  Emmons,  who  is  rather  too  well  known.  We  concede  300  major- 
ity to  Morris,  but  our  friends  can  reduce  it  to  200  if  they  work  right." 
******** 

"  EMPIRE  EIGHTH  !  shall  your  faithful  GEDNEY  be  defeated  ?  Has  he 
not  deserved  better  at  your  hands  ?  And  SWEET,  too,  he  was  foully  cheated 
out  of  his  election  last  year  by  Loco-Foco  fire  companies  brought  in  from  the 
Fifteenth,  and  prisoners  imported  from  Blackwell's  Island.  Eighteen  of  them 
in  one  house  !  You  owe  it  to  your  candiates  to  elect  them — you  owe  it  still 
more  to  yourselves — and  yet  your  Collector  quarrel  makes  us  doubt  a  little. 
Whigs  of  the  Eighth  !  resolve  to  carry  your  Alderman  and  you  WILL  !  Any 
how,  Robert  Smith  will  have  a  majority— we  '11  state  it  moderately  at  200." 
******** 

"  BLOOMING  TWELFTH !  The  Country  Ward  is  steadily  improving,  po- 
litically as  well  as  physically.  The  Whigs  run  their  popular  Alderman  of 
last  year  ;  the  Locos  have  made  a  most  unpopular  Ticket,  which  was  only 
forced  down  the  throats  of  many  by  virtue  of  the  bludgeon.  Heads  were 
cracked  like  walnuts  the  night  the  ticket  was  agreed  to.  Wo  say  50  for 
Smith,  and  the  clean  Whig  ticket." 

******** 

"Whigs  of  New  York!  THE  DAY  is  YOURS  IF  YOU  WILL!  But  if  you 
skulk  to  your  chimney  corners  and  let  such  a  man  as  ROBERT  SMITH  be 
beaten  by  Robert  H.  Morris)  you  will  deserve  to  be  c-heated,  plundered  and 
trampled  on  as  you  have  been.  But,  No  !  YOU  WILL  NOT  !  On  for  SMITH 
AND  VICTORY  !" 

We  now  turn  over,  with  necessary  rapidity,  the  pages  of  the 
third  and  fourth  volumes  of  the  Tribune,  pausing,  here  and  there, 
when  something  of  interest  respecting  its  editor  catches  our  eye. 


BOOKS    PUBLISHED    BY    GR5ELEY    AND    McELRATH.  2-it) 

Greeley  and  McElrath,  we  observe,  are  engaged,  somewhat  exten- 
sively, in  the  business  of  publishing  books.  The  Whig  almanac  ap- 
pears every  year,  and  sells  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  copies. 
It  contains  statistics  without  end,  and  much  literature  of  what  may 
be  called  the  Franklin  School — short,  practical  articles  on  agricul- 
ture, economy,  and  morals.  '  Travels  on  the  Prairies,'  Ellsworth's 
;  Agricultural  Geology,'  'Lardner's  Lectures,'  'Life  and  Speeches  of 
Henry  Clay,'  '  Tracts  on  the  Tariff '  by  Horace  Greeley,  *  The  Farm- 
ers' Library,'  are  among  the  works  published  by  Greeley  and  McEl- 
rath in  the  years  1843  and  1844.  The  business  was  not  profitable, 
I  believe,  and  gradually  the  firm  relinquished  all  their  publications, 
except  only  the  Tribune  and  Almanac.  September  1st,  1843,  the 
Evening  Tribune  began;  the  Semi-Weekly,  May  17th,  1845. 

Carlyle's  Past  and  Present,  one  of  the  three  or  four  Great  Books 
of  the  present  generation,  was  published  in  May  1843,  from  a  pri- 
vate copy,  entrusted  to  the  charge  of  Mr.  R.  W.  Emerson.  The 
Tribune  saw  its  merit,  and  gave  the  book  a  cordial  welcome. 
"  This  is  a  great  book,  a  noble  book,"  it  said,  in  a  second  notice, 
u  and  we  take  blame  to  ourself  for  having  rashly  asserted,  before  we 
had  read  it  thoroughly,  that  the  author,  keen- sighted  at  discovering 
Social  evils  and  tremendous  in  depicting  them,  was  yet  blind  as  to 
their  appropriate  remedies.  He  does  see  and  indicate  those  reme- 
dies— not  entirely  and  in  detail,  but  in  spirit  and  in  substance  very 
clearly  and  forcibly.  There  has  no  new  work  of  equal  practical 
value  with  this  been  put  forth  by  any  writer  of  eminence  within 
the  century.  Although  specially  addressed  to  and  treating  of  the 
People  of  England,  its  thoughts  are  of  immense  value  and  general 
application  here,  and  we  hope  many  thousand  copies  of  the  work 
will  instantly  be  put  into  circulation." 

Later  in  the  year  the  Tribune  introduced  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  the  system  of  Water-Cure,  copying  largely  from  Eu- 
ropean journals,  and  dilating  in  many  editorial  articles  on  the  man- 
ifold and  unsuspected  virtues  of  cold  water.  The  Erie  Railroad — 
that  gigantic  enterprise — had  then  and  afterwards  a  powerful  friend 
and  advocate  in  the  Tribune.  In  behalf  of  the  unemployed  poor, 
the  Tribune  spoke  wisely,  feelingly,  and  often.  To  the  new  Native 
American  Par^  it  gave  no  quarter.  For  Irish  Repeal,  it  fought  like 
a  tiger.  For  Protection  and  Clay,  it  could  not  say  enough.  Upon 


246  THE    TRIBUNE   CONTINUES. 

farmers  it  urged  the  duty  and  policy  of  high  farming.  To  the  strong 
unemployed  young  men  of  cities,  it  said  repeatedly  and  in  various 
terms,  '  Go  forth  into  the  Fields  and  Labor  with  your  Hands.' 

In  the  autumn,  Mr.  Greeley  made  a  tour  of  four  weeks  in  the  Far 
West,  and  wrote  letters  to  the  Tribune  descriptive  and  suggestive. 
In  December,  he  spent  a  few  days  in  Washington,  and  gave  a  sorry 
account  of  the  state  of  things  in  that  '  magnificent  mistake.' 

"To  a  new  comer,"  he  wrote,  "  the  Capitol  wears  an  imposing  appearance  : 
Nay,  more.  Let  him  view  it  for  the  first  time  by  daylight,  with  the  flag  of 
the  Union  floating  proudly  above  it,  (indicating  that  Congress  is  in  session,) 
and,  if  he  be  an  American,  I  defy  him  to  repress  a  swelling  of  the  heart — a 
glow  of  enthusiastic  feeling.  Under  these  free-flowing  Stripes  and  Stars  the 
Representatives  of  the  Nation  are  assembled  in  Council — under  the  emblem 
of  the  National  Sovereignty  is  in  action  the  collective  energy  and  embodiment 
of  that  Sovereignty.  Proud  recollections  of  beneficent  and  glorious  events 
come  thronging  thickly  upon  him — of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
s-truggles  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  far  more  glorious  peaceful  advances  of 
the  eagles  of  Freedom  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  and 
the  banks  of  the  Osage.  An  involuntary  cheer  rushes  from  his  heart  to  his 
lips,  and  he  hastens  at  once  to  the  Halls  of  Legislation  to  witness  and  listen 
to  the  displays  of  patriotic  foresight,  wisdom  and  eloquence,  there  evolved. 

"But  here  his  raptures  are  chilled  instanter.  Entering  the  Capitol,  he 
finds  its  passage  a  series  of  blind,  gloomy,  and  crooked  labyrinths,  through 
which  a  stranger  threads  his  devious  way  with  difficulty,  and  not  at  all  with- 
out inquiry  and  direction,  to  the  door  of  the  Senate  or  House.  Here  he  is 
met,  as  everywhere  through  the  edifice,  by  swarms  of  superserviceable  under- 
lings, numerous  as  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  eager  to  manifest  their  official  zeal 
and  usefulness  by  keeping  him  out  or  kicking  him  out  again.  He  retires  dis- 
gusted, and  again  threads  the  bewildering  maze  to  the  gallery,  where  (if  of 
the  House)  he  can  only  look  down  on  the  noisy  Bedlam  in  action  below  him— 
somebody  speaking  and  nobody  listening,  but  a  buzz  of  conversation,  the  trot- 
ting of  boys,  the  walking  about  of  members,  the  writing  and  folding  of  let- 
ters, calls  to  order,  cries  of  question,  calls  for  Yeas  and  Nays,  &c.,  give  him 
large  opportunities  for  headache,  meagre  ones  for  edification.  Half  an  hour 
will  usually  cure  him  of  all  passion  for  listening  to  debates  in  the  House. 
There  are,  of  course,  occasions  when  it  is  a  privilege  to  be  here,  but  I  speak  of 
the  general  scene  and  impression. 

"  To-day,  but  more  especially  yesterday,  a  deplorable  spectacle  has  been 
presented  here — a  glaring  exemplification  of  the  terrible  growth  and  diffusion 
of  office-begging.  The  Loco-Foco  House  has  ordered  a  clean  sweep  of  all  its 
underlings — door-keepers,  porters,  messengers,  wood-carriers,  Ac.,  &c.  I  care 


AN    INCIDENT    OF    TRAVEL.  247 

nothing  for  this,  so  far  as  the  turned-out  are  concerned — let  them  earn  a 
living,  like  other  folks — but  the  swarms  of  aspirants  that  invaded  every  avenue 
and  hall  of  the  Capitol,  making  doubly  hideous  the  dissonance  of  its  hundred 
echoes,  were  dreadful  to  contemplate.  Here  were  hundreds  of  young  boys, 
from  twenty  down  to  twelve  years  of  age,  deep  in  the  agonies  of  this  debasing 
game,  ear-wigging  and  button-holding,  talking  of  the  services  of  their  fathers 
or  brothers  to  'the  party,'  and  getting  members  to  intercede  for  them  with  the 
appointing  power.  The  new  door-keeper  was  in  distraction,  and  had  to  hide 
behind  the  Speaker's  chair,  where  he  could  not  be  hunted  except  by  proxy. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  # 

"The  situation  of  the  lowest  post  of  clerks  in  the  departments  and  other 
subordinate  office-holders  here  is  deplorable.  No  matter  what  are  their  re- 
spective salaries,  the  great  mass  of  them  are  always  behind-hand  and  getting 
more  so.  "When  one  is  dismissed  from  office,  he  has  no  resource,  and  no 
ability  to  wait  for  any,  and  considers  himself,  not  unnaturally,  a  ruined  man. 
He  usually  begs  to  be  reinstated,  and  his  wife  writes  or  goes  to  the  Presi- 
dent or  Secretary  to  cry  him  back  into  place  with  an  '  ower-true  tale'  of  a 
father  without  hope  and  children  without  bread ;  if  repulsed,  their  prospect 
is  dreary  indeed.  Where  office  is  the  sole  resource,  and  its  retention  depend- 
ent on  another's  interest  or  caprice,  there  is  no  slave  so  pitiable  as  the 
officer. 

"  Of  course,  where  every  man's  livelihood  is  dependent  on  a  game  of  chance 
and  intrigue,  outright  gambling  is  frightfully  prevalent.  This  city  is  full  of 
it  in  every  shape,  from  the  flaunting  lottery-office  on  every  corner  to  the 
secret  card-room  in  every  dark  recess.  Many  who  come  here  for  office  lose 
their  last  cent  in  these  dens,  and  have  to  borrow  the  means  of  getting  away. 
Such  is  Washington." 

One  incident  of  travel,  and  we  turn  to  the  next  volume.  It  oc- 
curred on  '  a  Sound  steamboat'  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1843  : 

"  Two  cleanly,  well-behaved  black  men,  who  had  just  finished  a  two  years' 
term  of  service  to  their  country  on  a  ship-of-war,  were  returning  from  Boston 
to  their  homes  in  this  city.  They  presented  their  tickets,  showing  that  they 
had  paid  full  passage  through  at  Boston,  and  requested  berths.  But  there 
was  no  place  provided  for  blacks  on  the  boat ;  they  could  not  be  admitted  to 
the  common  cabin,  and  the  clerk  informed  them  that  they  must  walk  the  deck 
all  night,  returning  them  seventy-five  cents  of  their  passage -money.  We 
saw  the  captain,  and  remonstrated  on  their  behalf,  and  were  convinced  that 
the  fault  was  not  his.  There  was  no  space  on  the  boat  for  a  room  specially 
for  blacks  (which  would  probably  cost  $20  for  every  $1  it  yielded,  as  it  would 
rarely  be  required,  and  he  could  not  put  whites  into  it) ;  .he  had  tried  to 
make  such  a  room,  but  could  find  no  place  ;  and  he  but  a  few  days  before  gave 


'248  THE    TRIBUNE    CONTINUES. 

a  berth  in  the  cabin  to  a  decent,  cleanly  colored  man,  when  the  other  pas 
sengers  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  on  him,  and  tell  him  that  would  not 
answer — so  he  had  to  turn  out  the  '  nigger'  to  pace  the  deck  through  the 
night,  count  the  slow  hours,  and  reflect  on  the  glorious  privilege  of  living  in 
a  land  of  liberty,  where  Slavery  and  tyranny  are  demolished,  and  all  men  are 
free  and  equal ! 

"  Such  occurrences  as  this  might  make  one  ashamed  of  Human  Natuits. 
We  do  not  believe  there  is  a  steamboat  in  the  South  where  a  negro  passing  a 
night  upon  it  would  not  have  found  a  place  to  sleep." 

The  year  1844  was  the  year  of  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen,  Polk  airl 
Dallas,  the  year  of  Nativism  and  the  Philadelphia  riots,  the  year 
of  delirious  hope  and  deep  despair,  the  year  that  finished  one  era  of 
politics  and  began  another,  the  year  of  Margaret  Fuller  and  the 
burning  of  the  Tribune  office,  the  year  when  Horace  Greeley  show- 
ed his  friends  how  hard  a  man  can  work,  how  little  he  can  sleep, 
and  yet  live.  The  Tribune  began  its  fourth  volume  on  the  tenth  of 
April,  enlarged  one-third  in  size,  with  new  type,  and  a  modest  flour- 
ish of  trumpets.  It  returned  thanks  to  the  public  for  the  liberal 
support  which  had  been  extended  to  it  from  the  beginning  of  its 
career.  "  Our  gratitude,"  said  the  editor,  "  is  the  deeper  from  our 
knowledge  that  many  of  the  views  expressed  through  our  columns 
are  unacceptable  to  a  large  proportion  of  our  readers.  We  know 
especially  that  our  advocacy  of  measures  intended  to  meliorate  the 
social  condition  of  the  toiling  millions  (not  the  purpose,  but  the 
means),  our  ardent  sympathy  with  the  people  of  Ireland  in  their 
protracted,  arduous,  peaceful  struggle  to  recover  some  portion  of 
the  common  rights  of  man,  and  our  opposition  to  the  legal  extinc- 
tion of  human  life,  are  severally  or  collectively  regarded  with  ex- 
treme aversion  by  many  of  our  steadfast  patrons,  whose  liberality 
and  confidence  is  gratefully  appreciated."  To  the  Whig  party,  of 
which  it  was  "  not  an  organ,  but  an  humble  advocate,"  its  "  obliga- 
tions were  many  and  profound."  The  Tribune,  in  fact,  had  become 
the  leading  Whig  paper  of  the  country. 

Horace  Greeley  had  long  set  his  heart  upon  the  election  of  Henry 
Clay  to  the  presidency ;  and  for  some  special  reasons  besides  the 
general  one  of  his  belief  that  the  policy  identified  with  the  name 
of  Henry  Clay  was  the  true  policy  of  the  government.  Henry  Clay 
was  one  of  the  heroes  of  his  boyhood's  admiration.  Yet,  in  1840, 


CLAY   AND   FRELINGHUYSEN.  249 

believing  that  Clay  could  not  be  elected,  he  had  used  his  influence 
to  promote  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Harrison.  Then  came  the  death 
of  the  president,  the  '  apostasy'  of  Tyler,  and  his  pitiful  attempts  to 
secure  a  re-election.  The  annexation  of  Texas  loomed  up  in  the 
distance,  and  the  repeal  of  the  tariff  of  1842.  For  these  and  other 
reasons,  Horace  Greeley  was  inflamed  with  a  desire  to  behold  once 
more  the  triumph  of  his  party,  and  to  see  the  long  career  of  the 
eminent  Kentuckian  crowned  with  its  suitable,  its  coveted  reward. 
For  this  he  labored  as  few  men  have  ever  labored  for  any  but  per- 
sonal objects.  He  attended  the  convention  at  Baltimore  that  nomi- 
nated the  Whig  candidates — one  of  the  largest  (and  quite  the  most 
excited)  political  assemblages  that  ever  were  gathered  in  this  coun- 
try. During  the  summer,  he  addressed  political  meetings  three, 
four,  five,  six  times  a  week.  He  travelled  far  and  wide,  advising, 
speaking,  and  in  every  way  urging  on  the  cause.  He  wrote,  on  an 
average,  four  columns  a  day  for  the  Tribune.  He  answered,  on  an 
average,  twenty  letters  a  day.  He  wrote  to  such  an  extent  that  his 
right  arm  broke  out  into  biles,  and,  at  one  time,  there  were  twenty 
between  the  wrist  and  the  elbow.  He  lived,  at  that  time,  four  miles 
and  a  half  from  the  office,  and  many  a  hot  night  he  protracted  his 
labors  till  the  last  omnibus  had  gone,  and  he  was  obliged  to  trudge 
wearily  home,  after  sixteen  hours  of  incessant  and  intense  exertion. 
The  whigs  were  very  confident.  They  were  sure  of  victory.  But 
Horace  Greeley  knew  the  country  better.  If  every  "Whig  had  worked 
as  he  worked,  how  different  had  been  the  result !  how  different  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  country  !  how  different  its  future  !  AVe 
had  had  no  annexation  of  Texas,  no  Mexican  war,  no  tinkering  of 
the  tariff  to  keep  the  nation  provincially  dependent  on  Europe,  no 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  no  Pierce,  no  Douglas,  no  Nebraska ! 

The  day  before  the  election,  the  Tribune  had  a  paragraph  which 
shows  how  excited  and  how  anxious  its  editor  was :  "  Give  to-mor- 
row," he  said,  "  entirely  to  your  country.  Grudge  her  not  a  mo- 
ment of  the  daylight.  Let  not  a  store  or  shop  be  opened — nobody 
can  want  to  trade  or  work  till  the  contest  is  decided.  It  needs 
every  man  of  us,  and  our  utmost  exertions,  to  save  the  CITY,  the 
STATE,  and  the  UNION.  A  tremendous  responsibility  rests  upon  us 
— an  electrifying  victory  or  calamitous  defeat  awaits  us.  Two  days 
only  are  before  us.  Action  !  Action !"  On  the  morning  of  the  de- 

H* 


250  THE    TRIBUNE   CONTINUES. 

cisive  day,  he  said,  "  Don't  mind  the  rain.  It  may  be  bad  weather, 
but  nothing  to  what  the  election  of  Polk  would  bring  upon  us. 
Let  no  Whig  be  deterred  by  rain  from  doing  his  whole  duty !  Who 
values  his  coat  more  than  his  country  ?" 

All  in  vain.  The  returns  came  in  slowly  to  what  they  now  do. 
The  result  of  a  presidential  election  is  now  known  in  New  York 
within  a  few  hours  of  the  closing  of  the  polls.  But  then  it  was 
three  days  before  the  whigs  certainly  knew  that  Harry  of  the  West 
had  been  beaten  by  Polk  of  Tennessee,  before  Americans  knew  that 
tlieir  voice  in  the  election  of  president  was  not  the  controlling  one. 

"  Each  morning,"  said  the  Tribune,  a  few  days  after  the  result 
was  known,  "  convincing  proofs  present  themselves  of  the  horrid 
effects  of  Loco-focoism,  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk.  Yesterday  it 
was  a  countermanding  of  orders  for  $8000  worth  of  stoves  ;  to-day 
the  Pittsburg  Gazette  says,  that  two  Scotch  gentlemen  who  arrived 
in  that  city  last  June,  with  a  capital  of  £12,000.  which  they  wished 
to  invest  in  building  a  large  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
fabrics,  left  for  Scotland,  when  they  learnt  that  the  Anti-Tariff 
champion  was  elected.  They  will  return  to  the  rough  hills  of  Scot- 
land, build  a  factory,  and  pour  their  goods  into  this  country  when 
Polk  and  his  break-down  party  shall  consummate  their  political 
iniquity.  These  are  the  small  first-fruits  of  Polk's  election,  the 
younglings  of  the  flock, — mere  hints  of  the  confusion  and  difficul- 
ties which  will  rush  down  in  an  overwhelming  flood,  after  the  Polk 
machine  gets  well  in  motion." 

The  election  of  Polk  and  Dallas  changed  the  tone  of  the  Tribune 
on  one  important  subject.  Until  the  threatened  annexation  of  Texas, 
which  the  result  of  this  election  made  a  certainty,  the  Tribune  had 
meddled  little  with  the  question  of  slavery.  To  the  silliness  of 
slavery  as  an  institution,  to  its  infinite  absurdity  and  impolicy,  to 
the  marvelous  stupidity  of  the  South  in  clinging  to  it  with  such 
pertinacity,  Horace  Greeley  had  always  been  keenly  alive.  But  he 
had  rather  deprecated  the  agitation  of  the  subject  at  the  North, 
as  tending  to  the  needless  irritation  of  the  southern  mind,  as  more 
likely  to  rivet  than  to  unloose  the  shackles  of  the  slave.  It  was 
not  till  slavery  became  aggressive,  it  was  not  till  the  machinery  of 
politics  was  moved  but  with  the  single  purpose  of  adding  slave 
States  to  the  Union,  slave  members  to  Congress,  that  the  Tribune 


BURNING    OF    THE    TRIBUNE    BUILDING.  251 

assumed  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  South,  and  its  pet  Blunder. 
To  a  southerner  who  wrote  about  this  time,  inquiring  what  right  the 
North  had  to  intermeddle  with  slavery,  the  Tribune  replied,  that 
"  when  we  find  the  Union  on  the  brink  of  a  most  unjust  and  rapa- 
cious war,  instigated  wholly  (as  is  officially  proclaimed)  by  a  deter- 
mination to  uphold  and  fortify  Slavery,  then  we  do  not  see  how  it 
can  longer  be  rationally  disputed  that  the  North  has  much,  very 
much,  to  do  with  Slavery.  If  we  may  be  drawn  in  to  fight  for  it, 
it  would  be  hard  indeed  that  we  should  not  be  allowed  to  talk  of 
it."  Thenceforth,  the  Tribune  fought  the  aggressions  of  the  slave 
power,  inch  by  inch. 

The  Tribune  continued  on  its  way,  triumphant  in  spite  of  the 
loss  of  the  election,  till  the  morning  of  Feb.  5th,  1845,  when  it  had 
the  common  New  York  experience  of  being  burnt  out.  It  shall 
tell  its  own  story  of  the  catastrophe  : 

"  At  4  o'clock,  yesterday  morning,  a  boy  in  our  employment  entered  our 
publication  office,  as  usual,  and  kindled  a  fire  in  the  stove  for  the  day,  after 
which  he  returned  to  the  mailing-room  below,  and  resumed  folding  news- 
papers. Half  an  hour  afterward  a  clerk,  who  slept  on  the  counter  of  the  publi- 
cation office,  was  awoke  by  a  sensation  of  heat,  and  found  the  room  in  flames. 
He  escaped  with  a  slight  scorching.  A  hasty  effort  was  made  by  two  or  three 
persons  to  extinguish  the  fire  by  casting  water  upon  it,  but  the  fierce  wind 
then  blowing  rushed  in  as  the  doors  were  opened,  and  drove  the  flames  through 
the  building  with  inconceivable  rapidity.  Mr.  Graham  .and  our  clerk,  Robert  M. 
Streby,  were  sleeping  in  the  second  story,  until  awakened  by  the  roar  of  the 
flames,  their  room  being  full  of  smoke  and  fire.  The  door  and  stairway  being 
on  fire,  they  escaped  with  only  their  night-clothes,  by  jumping  from  a  rear 
window,  each  losing  a  gold  watch,  and  Mr.  Graham  nearly  $500  in  cash,  which 
was  in  his  pocket-book  under  his  pillow.  Robert  was  somewhat  cut  in  the 
face,  on  striking  the  ground,  but  not  seriously.  In  our  printing-office,  fifth 
story,  two  compositors  were  at  work  making  up  the  Weekly  Tribune  for  tho 
press,  and  had  barely  time  to  escape  before  the  stairway  was  in  flames.  In 
the  basement  our  pressmen  were  at  work  on  the  Daily  Tribune  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  had  printed  about  three-fourths  of  the  edition.  The  balance  of  course 
went  with  everything  else,  including  a  supply  of  paper,  and  tho  Weekly  Tri- 
bune, printed  on  one  side.  A  few  books  were  hastily  caught  up  and  saved,  but 
nothing  else — not  even  the  daily  form,  on  which  the  pressmen  were  working. 
So  complete  a  destruction  of  a  daily  newspaper  office  was  never  known.  From 
the  editorial  rooms,  not  a  paper  was  saved ;  and,  besides  all  tho  editor's  own 


252  THE    TRIBUNE    CONTINUES. 

manuscripts,  correspondence,  and  collection  of  valuable  books,  some  manu- 
scripts belonging  to  friends,  of  great  value  to  them,  are  gone. 

"  Our  loss,  so  far  as  money  can  replace  it,  is  about  $18,000,  of  which  $10,000 
was  covered  by  insurance.  The  loss  of  property  which  insurance  would  not 
cover,  we  feel  more  keenly.  If  our  mail-books  come  out  whole  from  our  Sala- 
mander safe,  now  buried  among  the  burning  ruins,  we  shall  be  gratefully 
content. 

"  It  is  usual  on  such  occasions  to  ask,  '  Why  were  you  not  fully  insured  T 
It  was  impossible,  from  the  nature  of  our  business,  that  we  should  be  so  ;  and 
no  man  could  have  imagined  that  such  an  establishment,  in  which  men  were 
constantly  at  work  night  and  day,  could  be  wholly  consumed  by  fire.  There 
has  not  been  another  night,  since  the  building  was  put  up,  when  it  could  have 
been  burned  down,  even  if  deliberately  fired  for  that  purpose.  But  when  this 
fire  broke  out,  under  a  strong  gale  and  snow-storm  of  twenty-four  hours'  con- 
tinuance, which  had  rendered  the  streets  impassable,  it  was  well-nigh  impos- 
sible to  drag  an  engine  at  all.  Some  of  them  could  not  be  got  out  of  their 
houses  ;  others  were  dragged  a  few  rods  and  then  given  up  of  necessity ;  and 
those  which  reached  the  fire  found  the  nearest  hydrant  frozen  up,  and  only  to 
be  opened  with  an  axe.  Meantime,  the  whole  building  was  in  a  blaze.33 

The  mail  books  were  saved  in  the  '  roasted  Herring.'  The  pro- 
prietors of  the  morning  papers,  even  those  most  inimical,  editorial- 
ly, to  the  Tribune,  placed  their  superfluous  materials  at  its  disposal. 
An  office  was  hired  temporarily.  Type  was  borrowed  and  bought. 
All  hands  worked  'with  a  will.'  The  paper  appeared  the  next 
morning  at  the  usual  hour,  and  the  number  was  one  of  the  best  of 
that  volume.  In  three  months,  the  office  was  rebuilt  on  improved 
plans,  and  provided  with  every  facility  then  known  for  the  issue  of 
a  daily  paper.  These  were  Mr.  Greeley's '  Keflections  over  the  Fire,' 
published  a  few  days  after  its  occurrence : 

"  We  have  been  called,  editorially,  to  scissor  out  a  great  many  fires,  both 
small  and  great,  and  have  done  so  with  cool  philosophy,  not  reflecting  how 
much  to  some  one  man  the  little  paragraph  would  most  assuredly  mean.  The 
late  complete  and  summary  burning  up  of  our  office,  licked  up  clean  as  it  was 
by  the  red  flames,  in  a  few  hours,  has  taught  us  a  lesson  on  this  head.  Aside 
from  all  pecuniary  loss,  how  great  is  the  suffering  produced  by  a  fire !  A  hun- 
dred little  articles  of  no  use  to  any  one  save  the  owner,  things  that  people 
would  look  at  day  after  day,  and  see  nothing  in,  that  we  ourselves  have  con- 
templated with  cool  indifference,  now  that  they  are  irrevocably  destroyed, 
come  up  in  the  shape  of  reminiscences,  and  seem  as  if  they  had  been  worth 
their  weight  in  gold. 


MARGARET    FULLER.  253 

"We  would  not  indulge  in  unnecessary  sentiment,  but  even  the  old  desk  at 
which  we  sat,  the  ponderous  inkstand,  the  familiar  faces  of  files  of  Correspond- 
ence, the  choice  collection  of  pamphlets,  the  unfinished  essay,  the  charts  by 
which  we  steered — can  they  all  have  vanished,  never  more  to  be  seen  1  Truly 
your  fire  makes  clean  work,  and  is,  of  all  executive  officers,  super-eminent. 
Perhaps  that  last  choice  batch  of  letters  may  be  somewhere  on  file  ;  we  are 
almost  tempted  to  cry,  '  Devil  !  find  it  up  !'  Poh !  it  is  a  mere  cinder  now ; 

some 

"  *  Fathoms  deep  my  letter  lies ; 

Of  its  lines  is  tinder  made.' 

"  No  Arabian  tale  can  cradle  a  wilder  fiction,  or  show  better  how  altogether 
illusory  life  is.  Those  solid  walls  of  brick,  those  five  decent  stories,  those 
steep  and  difficult  stairs,  the  swinging  doors,  the  Sanctum,  scene  of  many  a 
deep  political  drama,  of  many  a  pathetic  tale,  utterly  whiffed  out,  as  one  sum- 
marily snuffs  out  a  spermaceti  on  retiring  for  the  night.  And  all  perfectly 
true. 

"  One  always  has  some  private  satisfaction  in  his  own  particular  misery. 
Consider  what  a  night  it  was  that  burnt  us  out,  that  we  were  conquered  by 
the  elements,  went  up  in  flames  heroically  on  the  wildest,  windiest,  stormiest 
night  these  dozen  years,  not  by  any  fault  of  human  enterprise,  but  fairly  con- 
quered by  stress  of  weather ; — there  was  a  great  flourish  of  trumpets  at  all 
events. 

"  And  consider,  above  all,  that  Salamander  safe  ;  how,  after  all,  the  fire,  as- 
sisted by  the  elements,  only  came  off  second  best,  not  being  able  to  reduce  that 
safe  into  ashes.  That  is  the  streak  of  sunshine  through  the  dun  wreaths  of 
smoke,  the  combat  of  human  ingenuity  against  the  desperate  encounter  of  the 
seething  heat.  But  those  boots,  and  Webster's  Dictionary— well !  we  were 
handsomely  whipped  there,  we  acknowledge." 


CHAPTER    XX. 

MARGARET     FULLER. 

Her  writings  in  the  Tribune— She  resides  with  Mr.  Greeley— His  narrative— Dietetic 
Sparring — Her  manner  of  writing — Woman's  Rights — Her  generosity — Her  inde- 
pendence—Her love  of  children— Margaret  and  Pickie— Her  opinion  of  Mr.  Gree- 
loy — Death  of  Pickie. 

MARGARET  FULLER'S  first  article  in  the  Tribune,  a  review  of  Em- 
erson's Essays,  appeared  on  the  seventh  of  December,  1844 ;  her 


£54  MARGARET    FULLER. 

last,  "Farewell  to  New  York,"  was  published  August  1st,  1846,  on 
the  eve  of  her  departure  for  Europe.  From  Europe,  however,  she 
sent  many  letters  to  the  Tribune,  and  continued  occasionally,  though 
at  ever-increasing  intervals,  to  correspond  with  the  paper  down 
nearly  to  the  time  of  her  embarkation  for  her  native  land  in  1850. 

During  the  twenty  months  of  her  connection  with  the  Tribune, 
she  wrote,  on  an  average,  three  articles  a  week.  Many  of  them 
were  long  and  elaborate,  extending,  in  several  instances,  to  three  and 
four  columns  ;  and,  as  they  were  Essays  upon  authors,  rather  than 
Reviews  of  Books,  she  indulged  sparingly  in  extract.  Among  her 
literary  articles,  we  observe  essays  upon  Milton,  Shelley,  Carlyle, 
George  Sand,  the  countess  Halm  Hahn,  Sue,  Balzac,  Charles  Wes- 
ley, Longfellow,  Richter,  and  other  magnates.  She  wrote,  also,  a 
few  musical  and  dramatic  critiques.  Among  her  general  contribu- 
tions, were  essays  upon  the  Rights,  Wrongs,  and  Duties  of  Women, 
a  defence  of  the  '  Irish  Character,'  articles  upon  '  Christmas,'  '  New 
Year's  Day,'  '  French  Gay ety,'  'the  Poor  Man,'  'the  Rich  Man,' 
*  What  fits  a  man  to  be  a  Voter ' — genial,  fresh,  and  suggestive 
essays  all.  Her  defence  of  the  Irish  character  was  very  touching 
and  just.  Her  essay  on  George  Sand  was  discriminating  and  cour- 
ageous. She  dared  to  speak  of  her  as  'one  of  the  best  exponents 
of  the  difficulties,  the  errors,  the  weaknesses,  and  regenerative 
powers  of  the  present  epoch.'  "  Let  no  man,"  continued  Miss  Ful- 
ler, "  confound  the  bold  unreserve  of  Sand  with  that  of  those  who 
have  lost  the  feeling  of  beauty  and  the  love  of  good.  With  a  bleed- 
ing heart  and  bewildered  feet  she  sought  the  Truth,  and  if  she  lost 
the  way,  returned  as  soon  as  convinced  she  had  done  so,  but  she 
would  never  hide  the  fact  that  she  had  lost  it.  *  What  God  knows 
I  dare  avow  to  man,'  seems  to  be  her  motto.  It  is  impossible  not 
to  see  in  her,  not  only  the  distress  and  doubts  of  the  intellect,  but 
the  temptations  of  a  sensual  nature  ;  but  we  see,  too,  the  courage  of 
a  hero,  and  a  deep  capacity  for  religion.  The  mixed  nature,  too, 
fits  her  peculiarly  to  speak  to  men  so  diseased  as  men  are  at  present. 
They  feel  she  knows  their  ailment,  and,  if  she  finds  a  cure,  it  will 
really  be  by  a  specific  remedy." 

To  give  George  Sand  her  due,  ten  years  ago,  required  more  cour- 
age in  a  reviewer  than  it  would  now  to  withhold  it. 

Margaret  Fuller,  in  the  knowledge  of  literature,  was  the  most 


Sip:   RESIDES   WITH   Mfc.  Gnv'EELEY.  255 

learned  woman  of  her  country,  perhaps  of  her  time.  Her  under- 
standing was  greater  than  her  gift.  She  could  appreciate,  not 
create.  She  was  the  noblest  victim  of  that  modern  error,  which 
makes  Education  and  Book-knowledge  synonymous  terms.  Her 
brain  was  terribly  stimulated  in  childhood  by  the  study  of  works 
utterly  unfit  for  the  nourishment  of  a  child's  mind,  and  in  after  life, 
it  was  further  stimulated  by  the  adulation  of  circles  who  place  the 
highest  value  upon  Intelligence,  and  no  value  at  all  upon  Wisdom. 
It  cost  her  the  best  years  of  her  life  to  unlearn  the  errors,  and  to 
overcome  the  mental  habits  of  her  earlier  years.  But  she  did  it. 
Her  triumph  was  complete.  She  attained  modesty,  serenity,  disin- 
terestedness, self-control.  "The  spirit  in  which  we  work,"  says 
Goethe,  "  is  the  highest  matter."  What  charms  and  blesses  the 
reader  of  Margaret  Fuller's  essays,  is  not  the  knowledge  they 
convey,  nor  the  understanding  they  reveal,  but  the  ineffably  sweet, 
benign,  tenderly  humane  and  serenely  high  spirit  which  they 
breathe  in  every  paragraph  and  phrase. 

During  a  part  of  the  time  of  her  connection  with  the  Tribune, 
Miss  Fuller  resided  at  Mr.  Greeley's  house,  on  the  banks  of  the  East 
river,  opposite  the  lower  end  of  Blackwell's  island.  "  This  place," 
she  wrote,  "is  to  me  entirely  charming;  it  is  so  completely  in  the 
country,  and  all  around  is  so  bold  and  free.  It  is  two  miles  or  moro 
from  the  thickly-settled  parts  of  New  York,  but  omnibuses  and  cars 
give  me  constant  access  to  the  city,  and,  while  I  can  readily  see 
what  and  whom  I  will,  I  can  command  time  and  retirement.  Stop- 
ping on  the  Harlem  road,  you  enter  a  lane  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  long,  and  going  by  a  small  brook  and  pond  that  locks  in  the 
place,  and  ascending  a  slightly  rising  ground,  get  sight  of  the  house, 
which,  old-fashioned  and  of  mellow  tint,  fronts  on  a  flower-garden 
filled  with  shrubs,  large  vines,  and  trim  box  borders.  On  both 
sides  of  the  house  are  "beautiful  trees,  standing  fair,  full-grown,  and 
clear.  Passing  through  a  wide  hall,  you  come  out  upon  a  piaz- 
za, stretching  the  whole  length  of  the  house,  where  one  can  walk  in 
all  weathers.  *  *  The  beauty  here,  seen  by  moonlight,  is  truly 
transporting.  I  enjoy  it  greatly,  and  the  genius  loci  receives  rne  as 
to  a  home." 

Mr.  Greeley  has  written  a  singularly  interesting  account  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  his  friendship  with  Margaret  Fuller,  which  was 


256  MARGARET    FULLER. 

published,  a  few  years  ago,  in  her  fascinating  memoirs.  A  man  «>, 
in  a  degree,  that  which  he  loves  to  praise ;  and  the  narrative  re- 
ferred to,  tells  much  of  Margaret  Fuller,  but  more  of  Horace  Gree- 
ley.  Whatever  else  should  be  omitted  from  this  volume,  that  should 
not  be ;  and  it  is,  accordingly,  presented  here  without  abridgment. 

"  My  first  acquaintance  with  Margaret  Fuller  was  made  through  the  pages 
of  The  Dial  The  lofty  range  and  rare  ability  of  that  work,  and  its  un- 
American  richness  of  culture  and  ripeness  of  thought,  naturally  filled  the 
'  fit  audience,  though  few,'  with  a  high  estimate  of  those  who  were  known  as 
its  conductors  and  principal  writers.  Yet  I  do  not  now  remember  that  any 
article,  which  strongly  impressed  me,  was  recognized  as  from  the  pen  of  its 
female  editor,  prior  to  the  appearance  of  '  The  Great  Law-suit,'  afterward 
matured  into  the  volume  more  distinctively,  yet  not  quite  accurately,  entitled 
'  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.'  I  think  this  can  hardly  have  failed  to 
make  a  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  every  thoughtful  reader,  as  the  pro- 
duction of  an  original,  vigorous  and  earnest  mind.  '  Summer  on  the  Lakes,' 
which  appeared  some  time  after  that  essay,  though  before  its  expansion  into  a 
book,  struck  me  as  less  ambitious  in  its  aim,  but  more  graceful  and  delicate 
in  its  execution  ;  and  as  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  graphic  delineations  ever 
given  of  the  Great  Lakes,  of  the  Prairies,  and  of  the  receding  barbarism,  and 
the  rapidly -advancing,  but  rude,  repulsive  semi-civilization,  which  were  con- 
tending with  most  unequal  forces  for  the  possession  of  those  rich  lands.  I 
still  consider  '  Summer  on  the  Lakes'  unequaled,  especially  in  its  pictures  of 
the  Prairies,  and  of  the  sunnier  aspects  of  Pioneer  life. 

"Yet,  it  was  the  suggestion  of  Mrs.  Greeley — who  had  spent  some  weeks 
of  successive  seasons  in  or  near  Boston,  and  who  had  there  made  the  personal 
acquaintance  of  Miss  Fuller,  and  formed  a  very  high  estimate  and  warm  at- 
tachment for  her — that  induced  me,  in  the  autumn  of  1844,  to  offer  her  terms, 
which  were  accepted,  for  her  assistance  in  the  literary  department  of  The 
Tribune.  A  home  in  my  family  was  included  in  the  stipulation.  I  was  my- 
self barely  acquainted  with  her  when  she  thus  came  to  reside  with  us,  and  I 
did  not  fully  appreciate  her  nobler  qualities  for  some  months  afterward. 
Though  we  were  members  of  the  same  household,  we  scarcely  met  save  at 
breakfast ;  and  my  time  and  thoughts  were  absorbed  in  duties  and  cares, 
which  left  me  little  leisure  or  inclination  for  the  amenities  of  social  inter- 
course. Fortune  seemed  to  delight  in  placing  us  two  in  relations  of  friendly 
antagonism — or  rather,  to  develop  all  possible  contrasts  in  our  ideas  and  social 
habits.  She  was  naturally  inclined  to  luxury,  and  a  good  appearance  before 
the  world.  My  pride,  if  I  had  any,  delighted  in  bare  walls  and  rugged  fare. 
She  was  addicted  to  strong  tea  and  coffee,  both  of  which  I  rejected  and  con- 
demned, even  in  the  most  homoeopathic  dilutions ;  while,  my  general  health 


257 

being  sound,  and  hers  sadly  impaired,  I  could  not  fail  to  find  in  her  dietectic 
habits  the  causes  of  her  almost  habitual  illness  ;  and  once,  while  we  were 
still  barely  acquainted,  when  she  came  to  the  breakfast- table  with  a  very 
severe  headache,  I  was  tempted  to  attribute  it  to  her  strong  potations  of  the 
Chinese  leaf  the  night  before.  She  told  me  quite  frankly  that  she  '  declined 
being  lectured  on  the  food  or  beverage  she  saw  fit  to  take,'  which  was  but 
reasonable  in  one  who  had  arrived  at  her  maturity  of  intellect  and  fixedness 
of  habits.  ^  So  the  subject  was  thenceforth  tacitly  avoided  between  us;  but, 
though  words  were  suppressed,  looks  and  involuntary  gestures  could  not  so 
well  be  ;  and  an  utter  divergency  of  views  on  this  and  kindred  themes  created 
a  perceptible  distance  between  us. 

"  Her  earlier  contributions  to  The  Tribune  were  not  her  best,  and  I  did  not 
at  first  prize  her  aid  so  highly  as  I  afterward  learned  to  do.  She  wrote  always 
freshly,  vigorously,  but  not  always  clearly ;  for  her  full  and  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  continental  literature,  especially  German,  seemed  to  have 
marred  her  felicity  and  readiness  of  expression  in  her  mother  tongue.  While 
I  never  met  another  woman  who  conversed  more  freely  or  lucidly,  the  at- 
tempt to  commit  her  thoughts  to  paper  seemed  to  induce  a  singular  em- 
barrassment and  hesitation.  She  could  write  only  when  in  the  vein,  and 
this  needed  often  to  be  waited  for  through  several  days,  while  the  occa- 
sion sometimes  required  an  immediate  utterance.  The  new  book  must  be  re- 
viewed before  other  journals  had  thoroughly  dissected  and  discussed  it,  else 
the  ablest  critique  would  command  no  general  attention,  and  perhaps  be,  by 
the  greater  number,  unread.  That  the  writer  should  wait  the  flow  of  inspira- 
tion, or  at  least  the  recurrence  of  elasticity  of  spirits  and  relative  health  of 
body,  will  not  seem  unreasonable  to  the  general  reader ;  but  to  the  inveterate 
hack-horse  of  the  daily  press,  accustomed  to  write  at  any  time,  on  any  sub- 
ject, and  with  a  rapidity  limited  only  by  the  physical  ability  to  form  the  re- 
quisite pen-strokes,  the  notion  of  waiting  for  a  brighter  day,  or  a  happier 
frame  of  mind,  appears  fantastic  and  absurd.  He  would  as  soon  think  of 
waiting  for  a  change  in  the  moon.  Hence,  while  I  realized  that  her  contri- 
butions evinced  rare  intellectual  wealth  and  force,  I  did  not  value  them  as  I 
should  have  done  had  they  been  written  more  fluently  and  promptly.  They 
often  seemed  to  make  their  appearance  '  a  day  after  the  fair.' 

"  One  other  point  of  tacit  antagonism  between  us  may  as  well  be  noted. 
Margaret  was  always  a  most  earnest,  devoted  champion  of  the  Emancipation 
of  Women  from  their  past  and  present  condition  of  inferiority,  to  an  inde- 
pendence of  Men.  She  demanded  for  them  the  fullest  recognition  of  Social 
and  Political  Equality  with  the  rougher  sex  ;  the  freest  access  to  all  stations, 
professions,  employments,  which  are  open  to  any.  To  this  demand  I  heartily 
acceded.  It  seemed  to  me,  however,  that  her  clear  perceptions  of  abstract 
right  were  often  overborne,  in  practice,  by  the  influence  of  education  and 
habit ;  that  while  she  demanded  absolute  equality  for  Woman,  she  exacted  a 


258  MARGARET    FULLER. 

deference  and  courtesy  from  men  to  women,  as  women,  which  was  entirely  in- 
consistent with  that  requirement.  In  my  view,  the  equalizing  theory  can  be 
enforced  only  by  ignoring  the  habitual  discrimination  of  men  and  women,  as 
forming  separate  classes,  and  regarding  all  alike  as  simply  persons, — as  hu- 
man beings.  So  long  as  a  lady  shall  deem  herself  in  need  of  some  gentleman's 
arm  to  conduct  her  properly  out  of  a  dining  or  ball-room, — so  long  as  she 
shall  consider  it  dangerous  or  unbecoming  to  walk  half  a  mile  alone  by  night, 
— I  cannot  see  how  the  '  Woman's  Plights '  theory  is  ever  to  be  anything  more 
than  a  logically  defensible  abstraction.  In  this  view  Margaret  did  not  at  all 
concur,  and  the  diversity  was  the  incitement  to  much  perfectly  good-natured,  but 
nevertheless  sharpish  sparring  between  us.  Whenever  she  said  or  did  anything 
implying  the  usual  demand  of  Woman  on  the  courtesy  and  protection  of  Man- 
hood, I  was  apt,  before  complying,  to  look  her  in  the  face  and  exclaim  with 
marked  emphasis, — quoting  from  her  '  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,' — 
'  LET  THEM  BE  SEA-CAPTAINS  IF  THEY  WILL  !'  Of  course,  this  was  given  and 
received  as  raillery,  but  it  did  not  tend  to  ripen  our  intimacy  or  quicken  my 
esteem  into  admiration.  Though  no  unkind  word  ever  passed  between  us, 
nor  any  approach  to  one,  yet  we  two  dwelt  for  months  under  the  same  roof,  as 
scarcely  more  than  acquaintances,  meeting  once  a  day  at  a  common  board,  and 
having  certain  business  relations  with  each  other.  Personally,  I  regarded  her 
rather  as  my  wife's  cherished  friend  than  as  my  own,  possessing  many  lofty 
qualities  and  some  prominent  weaknesses,  and  a  good  deal  spoiled  by  the  un- 
measured flattery  of  her  little  circle  of  inordinate  admirers.  For  myself, 
burning  no  incense  on  any  human  shrine,  I  half-consciously  resolved  to  '  keep 
my  eye-beam  clear,'  and  escape  the  fascination  which  she  seemed  to  exert 
over  the  eminent  and  cultivated  persons,  mainly  women,  who  came  to  our 
out-of-the-way  dwelling  to  visit  her,  and  who  seemed  generally  to  regard  her 
with  a  strangely  Oriental  adoration. 

"  But  as  time  wore  on,  and  I  became  inevitably  better  and  better  acquaint- 
ed with  her,  I  found  myself  drawn,  almost  irresistibly,  into  the  general  cur- 
rent. I  found  that  her  faults  and  weaknesses  were  all  superficial  and  obvious 
to  the  most  casual,  if  undazzled,  observer.  They  rather  dwindled  than  ex- 
panded upon  a  fuller  knowledge  ;  or  rather,  took  on  new  and  brighter  aspects 
in  the  light  of  her  radiant  and  lofty  soul.  I  learned  to  know  her  as  a  most 
fearless  and  unselfish  champion  of  Truth  and  Human  Good  at  all  hazards, 
ready  to  be  their  standard-bearer  through  danger  and  obloquy,  and  if  need  be, 
their  martyr.  I  think  few  have  more  keenly  appreciated  the  material  goods 
of  life, — Rank,  Riches,  Power,  Luxury,  Enjoyment ;  but  I  know  none  who 
would  have  more  cheerfully  surrendered  them  all,  if  the  well-being  of  our 
Race  could  thereby  have  been  promoted.  I  have  never  met  another  in 
whom  the  inspiring  hope  of  Immortality  was  so  strengthened  into  profound- 
est  conviction.  She  did  not  believe  in  our  future  and  unending  existence,— 
she  knew  it,  and  lived  ever  in  the  broad  glare  of  its  morning  twilight.  With 


HER   WRITINGS.  259 

a  limited  income  and  liberal  wants,  she  wag  yet  generous  beyond  the  bounds 
of  reason.  Had  the  gold  of  California  been  all  her  own,  she  would  have  dis- 
bursed nine-tenths  of  it  in  eager  and  well-directed  efforts  to  stay,  or  at  least 
diminish,  the  flood  of  human  misery.  And  it  is  but  fair  to  state,  that  the  lib- 
erality she  evinced  was  fully  paralleled  by  the  liberality  she  experienced  at 
the  hands  of  others.  Had  she  needed  thousands,  and  made  her  wants  known, 
she  had  friends  who  would  have  cheerfully  supplied  her.  I  think  few  persons, 
in  their  pecuniary  dealings,  have  experienced  and  evinced  more  of  the  better 
qualities  of  human  nature  than  Margaret  Fuller.  She  seemed  to  inspire 
those  who  approached  her  with  that  generosity  which  was  a  part  of  her 
nature. 

"  Of  her  writings  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  critically.  I  think  most  of  her 
contributions  to  the  Tribune,  while  she  remained  with  us,  were  characterized  by 
a  directness,  terseness,  and  practicality,  which  are  wanting  in  some  of  her 
earlier  productions.  Good  judges  have  confirmed  my  own  opinion,  that  while 
her  essays  in  the  Dial  are  more  elaborate  and  ambitious,  her  reviews  in  the 
Tribune  are  far  better  adapted  to  win  the  favor  and  sway  the  judgment  of  the 
great  majority  of  readers.  But,  one  characteristic  of  her  writings  I  feel 
bound  to  commend, — their  absolute  truthfulness.  She  never  asked  how  this 
would  sound,  nor  whether  that  would  do,  nor  what  would  be  the  effect  of  say- 
ing anything  ;  but  simply,  '  Is  it  the  truth  ?  Is  it  such  as  the  public  should 
know?'  And  if  her  judgment  answered,  'Yes,'  she  uttered  it;  no  matter 
what  turmoil  it  might  excite,  nor  what  odium  it  might  draw  down  on  her  own 
head.  Perfect  conscientiousness  was  an  unfailing  characteristic  of  her  literary 
efforts.  Even  the  severest  of  her  critiques, — that  on  Longfellow's  Poems, — 
for  which  an  impulse  in  personal  pique  has  been  alleged,  I  happen  with  cer- 
tainty to  know  had  no  such  origin.  When  I  first  handed  her  the  book  to  re- 
view, she  excused  herself,  assigning  the  wide  divergence  of  her  views  of  Po- 
etry from  those  of  the  author  and  his  school,  as  her  reason.  She  thus  induced 
me  to  attempt  the  task  of  reviewing  it  myself.  But  day  after  day  sped  by, 
and  I  could  find  no  hour  that  was  not  absolutely  required  for  the  performance 
of  some  duty  that  would  not  be  put  off,  nor  turned  over  to  another.  At  length 
I  carried  the  book  back  to  her  in  utter  despair  of  ever  finding  an  hour  in 
which  even  to  look  through  it ;  and,  at  my  renewed  and  earnest  request,  she 
reluctantly  undertook  its  discussion.  The  statement  of  these  facts  is  but  an 
act  of  justice  to  her  memory. 

"  Profoundly  religious, — though  her  creed  was,  at  once,  very  broad  and  very 
short,  with  a  genuine  love  for  inferiors  in  social  position,  whom  she  was  habit- 
ually studying,  by  her  counsel  and  teachings,  to  elevate  and  improve, — she 
won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  those  who  attracted  her.  by  unbounded 
sympathy  and  trust.  She  probably  knew  the  cherished  secrets  of  more  hearts 
than  any  one  else,  because  she  freely  imparted  her  own.  With  a  full  share 
both  of  intellectual  and  of  family  pride,  she  pre-eminently  recognized  and  re- 


260  MARGARET    FULLER. 

eponded  to  the  essential  brotherhood  of  all  human  kind,  and  needed  but  to 
know  that  a  fellow-being  required  her  counsel  or  assistance,  to  render  her,  not 
merely  willing,  but  eager  to  impart  it.  Loving  ease,  luxury,  and  the  world's 
good  opinion,  she  stood  ready  to  renounce  them  all,  at  the  call  of  pity  or  of 
duty.  I  think  no  one,  not  radically  averse  to  the  whole  system  of  domestic 
servitude,  would  have  treated  servants,  of  whatever  class,  with  such  uniform 
and  thoughtful  consideration, — a  regard  which  wholly  merged  their  factitious 
condition  in  their  antecedent  and  permanent  humanity.  I  think  few  servants 
ever  lived  weeks  with  her,  who  were  not  dignified  and  lastingly  benefited  by 
her  influence  and  her  counsels  They  might  be  at  first  repelled,  by  what 
seemed  her  too  stately  manner  and  exacting  disposition,  but  they  soon  learned 
to  esteem  and  love  her. 

"I  have  known  few  women,  and  scarcely  another  maiden,  who  had  the 
heart  and  the  .courage  to  speak  with  such  frank  compassion,  in  mixed  circles, 
of  the  most  degraded  and  outcast  portion  of  the  sex.  The  contemplation  of 
their  treatment,  especially  by  the  guilty  authors  of  their  ruin,  moved  her  to  a 
calm  and  mournful  indignation,  which  she  did  not  attempt  to  suppress  nor 
control.  Others  were  willing  to  pity  and  deplore ;  Margaret  was  more  inclined 
to  vindicate  and  to  redeem.  She  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  that  on  meeting 
some  of  these  abused,  unhappy  sisters,  she  had  been  surprised  to  find  them 
scarcely  fallen  morally  below  the  ordinary  standard  of  Womanhood, — realiz- 
ing and  loathing  their  debasement ;  anxious  to  escape  it ;  and  only  repelled 
by  the  sad  consciousness  that  for  them  sympathy  and  society  remained  only  so 
long  as  they  should  persist  in  the  ways  of  pollution.  Those  who  have  read 
her  f  Woman,'  may  remember  some  daring  comparisons  therein  suggested  be- 
tween these  Pariahs  of  society  and  large  classes  of  their  respectable  sisters  ; 
and  that  was  no  fitful  expression, — no  sudden  outbreak,— but  impelled  by  her 
most  deliberate  convictions.  I  think,  if  she  had  been  born  to  large  fortune,  a 
house  of  refuge  for  all  female  outcasts  desiring  to  return  to  the  ways  of 
Virtue,  would  have  been  one  of  her  most  cherished  and  first  realized  concep- 
tions. 

"  Her  love  of  children  was  one  of  her  most  prominent  characteristics.  The 
pleasure  she  enjoyed  in  their  society  was  fully  counterpoised  by  that  she  im- 
parted. To  them  she  was  never  lofty,  nor  reserved,  nor  mystical ;  for  no  one 
had  ever  a  more  perfect  faculty  for  entering  into  their  sports,  their  feelings, 
their  enjoyments.  She  could  narrate  almost  any  story  in  language  level  to 
their  capacities,  and  in  a  manner  calculated  to  bring  out  their  hearty  and  often 
boisterously-expressed  delight.  She  possessed  marvellous  powers  of  observa- 
tion and  imitation  or  mimicry ;  and,  had  she  been  attracted  to  the  stage, 
would  have  been  the  first  actress  America  has  produced,  whether  in  tragedy  or 
comedy,  Her  faculty  of  mimicking  was  not  needed  to  commend  her  to  the 
hearts  of  children,  but  it  had  its  effect  in  increasing  the  fascinations  of  her 
genial  nature  and  heartfelt  joy  in  their  society.  To  amuse  and  instruct  them 


MARGARET   AND    JPICKIE.  261 

was  an  achievement  for  which  she  would  readily  forego  any  personal  object ; 
and  her  intuitive  perception  of  the  toys,  games,  stories,  rhymes,  &c.,  best 
adapted  to  arrest  and  enchain  their  attention,  was  unsurpassed.  Between  her 
and  my  only  child,  then  living,  who  was  eight  months  old  when  she  came  to 
us,  and  something  over  two  years  when  she  sailed  for  Europe,  tendrils  of  af- 
fection gradually  intertwined  themselves,  which  I  trust  Death  has  not  severed, 
but  rather  multiplied  and  strengthened.  She  became  his  teacher,  playmate, 
and  monitor  ;  and  he  requited  her  with  a  prodigality  of  love  and  admiration. 

"  I  shall  not  soon  forget  their  meeting  in  my  office,  after  some  weeks'  sepa- 
ration, just  before  she  left  us  forever.  His  mother  had  brought  him  in  from 
the  country,  and  left  him  asleep  on  my  sofa,  while  she  was  absent  making 
purchases,  and  he  had  rolled  off  and  hurt  himself  in  the  fall,  waking  with  the 
shock  in  a  frenzy  of  anger,  just  before  Margaret,  hearing  of  his  arrival,  rushed 
into  the  office  to  find  him.  I  was  vainly  attempting  to  soothe  him  as  she  en- 
tered ;  but  he  was  running  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  office,  crying  pas- 
sionately, and  refusing  to  be  pacified.  She  hastened  to  him,  in  perfect  confi- 
dence that  her  endearments  would  calm  the  current  of  his  feelings, — that  the 
sound  of  her  well-remembered  voice  would  banish  all  thought  of  his  pain, — 
and  that  another  moment  would  see  him  restored  to  gentleness  ;  but,  half- 
wakened,  he  did  not  heed  her,  and  probably  did  not  even  realize  who  it  was 
that  caught  him  repeatedly  in  her  arms  and  tenderly  insisted  that  he  should 
restrain  himself.  At  last  she  desisted  in  despair  ;  and,  with  the  bitter  tears 
streaming  down  her  face,  observed  : — '  Pickie,  many  friends  have  treated  me 
unkindly,  but  no  one  had  ever  the  power  to  cut  me  to  the  heart  as  you  have  !' 
Being  thus  let  alone,  he  soon  came  to  himself,  and  their  mutual  delight  in  the 
meeting  was  rather  heightened  by  the  momentary  estrangement. 

"  They  had  one  more  meeting  ;  the  last  on  earth  !  '  Aunty  Margaret'  was 
to  embark  for  Europe  on  a  certain  day,  and  '  Pickie'  was  brought  into  the  city 
to  bid  her  farewell.  They  met  this  time  also  at  my  office,  and  together  we 
thence  repaired  to  the  ferry-boat,  on  which  she  was  returning  to  her  residence 
in  Brooklyn  to  complete  her  preparations  for  the  voyage.  There  they  took  a 
tender  and  affecting  leave  of  each  other.  But  soon  his  mother  called  at  the 
office,  on  her  way  to  the  departing  ship,  and  we  were  easily  persuaded  to  ac- 
company her  thither,  and  say  farewell  once  more,  to  the  manifest  satisfaction 
of  both  Margaret  and  the  youngest  of  her  devoted  friends.  Thus  they  parted, 
never  to  meet  again  in  time.  She  sent  him  messages  and  presents  repeatedly 
from  Europe  ;  and  he,  when  somewHat  older,  dictated  a  letter  in  return,  which 
was  joyfully  received  and  acknowledged.  When  the  mother  of  our  great- 
souled  friend  spent  some  days  with  us  nearly  two  years  afterward,  '  Pickie' 
talked  to  her  often  and  lovingly  of  '  Aunty  Margaret,'  proposing  that  they  two 
should  '  take  a  boat  and  go  over  and  see  her,' — for,  to  his  infantile  conception, 
the  low  coast  of  Long  Island,  visible  just  across  the  East  River,  was  that  Eu- 
rope to  which  she  had  sailed,  and  where  she  was  unaccountably  detained  so 


262  MARGARET    FULLER. 

long.  Alas  !  a  far  longer  and  more  adventurous  journey  was  required  to  re- 
unite those  loving  souls  !  The  12th  of  July,  1849,  saw  him  stricken  down, 
from  health  to  death,  by  the  relentless  cholera ;  and  my  letter,  announcing 
that  calamity,  drew  from  her  a  burst  of  passionate  sorrow,  such  as  hardly  any 
bereavement  but  the  loss  of  a  very  near  relative  could  have  impelled.  An- 
other year  had  just  ended,  when  a  calamity,  equally  sudden,  bereft  a  wide 
circle  of  her  likewise,  with  her  husband  and  infant  son.  Little  did  I  fear, 
when  I  bade  her  a  confident  Good-bye,  on  the  deck  of  her  outward-bound  ship, 
that  the  sea  would  close  over  her  earthly  remains  ere  we  should  meet  again  ; 
far  less  that  the  light  of  my  eyes  and  the  cynosure  of  my  hopes,  who  then 
bade  her  a  tenderer  and  sadder  farewell,  would  precede  her  on  the  dim  path- 
way to  that  '  Father's  house'  whence  is  no  returning !  Ah,  well !  God  is  above 
all,  and  gracious  alike  in  what  he  conceals  and  what  he  discloses  ; — benignant 
and  bounteous,  as  well  when  he  reclaims  as  when  he  bestows.  In  a  few  years, 
at  farthest,  our  loved  and  lost  ones  will  welcome  us  to  their  home." 

Margaret  Fuller,  on  her  part,  was  fully  sensible  of  the  merits  of 
him  who  has  so  touchingly  embalmed  her  memory.  "  Mr.  Greeley," 
she  wrote  in  a  private  letter,  "  is  a  man  of  genuine  excellence,  hon- 
orable, benevolent,  and  of  an  unccrrapted  disposition.  He  is  saga- 
cious, and,  in  his  way,  of  even  great  abilities.  In  modes  of  life  and 
manner  he  is  a  man  of  the  people,  and  of  the  American  people." 
And  again :  "  Mr.  Greeley  is  in  many  ways  very  interesting  for  me 
to  know.  He  teaches  me  things,  which  my  own  influence  on  those 
who  have  hitherto  approached  me,  has  prevented  me  from  learning. 
In  our  business  and  friendly  relations,  we  are  on  terms  of  solid 
good-will  and  mutual  respect.  With  the  exception  of  my  own 
mother,  I  think  him  the  most  disinterestedly  generous  person  I  have 
ever  known."  And  later  she  writes :  "You  have  heard  that  the 
Tribune  Office  was  burned  to  the  ground.  For  a  day  I  thought  it 
must  make  a  difference,  but  it  has  served  only  to  increase  my  admi- 
ration for  Mr.  Greeley's  smiling  courage.  He  has  really  a  strong 
character." 

In  another  letter,  written  at  Rome  in  1849,  there  is  another  allu- 
sion to  Mr.  Greeley  and  his  darling  boy.  "  Receiving,"  she  said,  "  a 
few  days  since,  a  packet  of  letters  from  America,  I  opened  them 
with  more  feeling  of  hope  and  good  cheer,  than  for  a  long  time 
past.  The  first  words  that  met  my  eye  were  these,  in  the  hand  of 
Mr.  Greeley:  'Ah,  Margaret,  the  world  grows  dark  with  us!  You 
grieve,  for  Rome  is  fallen ;  I  mourn,  for  Pickie  is  dead.' 


EDITORIAL   REPARTEES.  263 

"I  have  shed  rivers  of  tears  over  the  inexpressibly  affecting  letter 
thus  begun.  One  would  think  I  might  have  become  familiar  enough 
with  images  of  death  and  destruction ;  yet  somehow  the  image  of 
Pickie's  little  dancing  figure,  lying,  stiff  and  stark,  between  his  par- 
ents, has  made  me  weep  more  than  all  else.  There  was  little  hope 
he  could  do  justice  to  himself,  or  lead  a  happy  life  in  so  perplexed 
a  world  ;  but  never  was  a  character  of  richer  capacity, — never  a 
more  charming  child.  To  me  he  was  most  dear,  and  would  always 
have  been  so.  Had  he  become  stained  with  earthly  faults,  I  could 
never  have  forgotten  what  he  was  when  fresh  from  the  soul's  home, 
and  what  he  was  to  me  when  my  soul  pined  for  sympathy,  pure 
and  unalloyed." 

A  few  months  after  these  words  were  written,  Margaret  Fuller 
saw  her  native  shores ;  but  she  was  destined  never  to  tread  them 
again.  The  vessel  in  which  she  was  a  passenger  was  wrecked  on 
the  coast  of  Long  Island.  The  body  of  her  infant  son  was  washed 
on  shore,  but  she  and  her  husband  found  death,  burial,  requiem,  all 
in  the  deep. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

EDITORIAL      REPARTEES. 

At  war  with  all  the  world— The  spirit  of  the  Tribune— Retorts  vituperative— The  Tri- 
bune and  Dr.  Potts— Some  prize  tracts  suggested— An  atheist's  oath— A  word  for 
domestics — Irish  Democracy — The  modern  drama — Hit  at  Dr.  Hawks — Dissolution 
of  the  Union— Dr.  Franklin's  story— A  Picture  for  Polk— Charles  Dickens  and 
Copyright— Charge  of  Malignant  falsehood— Preaching  and  Practice— Col.  Webb 
severely  hit— Hostility  to  the  Mexican  war — Violence  incited — A  few  sparks — The 
course  of  the  Tribune— Wager  with  the  Herald. 

THE  years  1845,  1846,  and  1847,  were  emphatically  the  fighting 
years  of  the  New  York  Tribune.  If  it  was  not  at  war  with  all 
the  world,  all  the  world  seemed  to  be  at  war  with  it,  and  it  was 
kept  constantly  on  the  defensive.  With  the  '  democratic '  press,  of 
course,  it  could  not  be  at  peace.  The  whig  press  of  the  city  de- 
nounced it,  realty  because  it  was  immovably  prosperous,  ostensibly 


£64  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

on  the  ground  of  its  Fourierite  and  progressive  tendencies.  Its  oppo- 
sition to  capital  punishment,  the  freedom  of  its  reviews,  and  the 
'hospitality  it  gave  to  every  new  thought,'  gave  offence  to  the  relig- 
ious press.  Its  tremendous  hostility  to  the  Mexican  war  excited  the 
animosity  of  all  office-holders  and  other  patriots,  including  the  pres- 
ident, who  made  a  palpable  allusion  to  the  course  of  the  Tribune  in 
one  of  his  messages.  There  was  talk  even  of  mobbing  the  office, 
at  one  of  the  war  meetings  in  the  Park.  Its  zeal  in  behalf  of  Irish 
repeal  alienated  the  English  residents,  who  naturally  liked  the 
'  pluck '  and  independence  of  the  Tribune.  Its  hostility  to  the  slave 
power  provoked  the  south,  and  all  but  destroyed  its  southern  cir- 
culation. It  offended  bigots  by  giving  Thomas  Paine  his  due ;  it 
offended  unbelievers  by  refusing  to  give  him  more.  Its  opposition 
to  the  drama,  as  it  is,  called  forth  many  a  sneer  from  the  papers 
who  have  the  honor  of  the  drama  in  their  special  keeping.  The 
extreme  American  party  abhorred  its  enmity  to  Nativeism.  The 
extreme  Irish  party  distrusted  it,  because  in  sentiment  and  feeling 
it  was  thoroughly  Protestant.  The  extreme  liberal  party  disliked 
its  opposition  to  their  views  of  marriage  and  divorce.  In  a  word, 
if  the  course  of  the  Tribune  had  been  suggested  by  a  desire  to  give 
the  greatest  offense  to  the  greatest  number,  it  could  hardly  have 
made  more  enemies  than  it  did. 

In  the  prospectus  to  the  fifth  volume,  the  editor  seemed  to  antici- 
pate a  period  of  inky  war. 

"  Our  conservatism,"  he  said,  "  is  not  of  that  Chinese  tenacity  which  insists 
that  the  bad  must  be  cherished  simply  because  it  is  old.  We  insist  only  that 
the  old  must  be  proved  bad  and  never  condemned  merely  because  it  is  old ; 
and  that,  even  if  defective,  it  should  not  be  overthrown  till  something  better 
has  been  provided  to  replace  it.  The  extremes  of  blind,  stubborn  resistance 
to  change,  and  rash,  sweeping,  convulsive  innovation,  are  naturally  allies,  each 
paving  the  way  for  the  other.  The  supple  courtier,  the  wholesale  flatterer  of 
the  Despot,  and  the  humble  servitor  and  bepraiser  of  the  dear  People,  are  not 
two  distinct  characters,  but  essentially  the  same.  Thus  believing,  we,  while 
we  do  not  regard  the  judgment  of  any  present  majority  as  infallible,,  cannot 
attribute  infallibility  to  any  acts  or  institutes  of  a  past  generation,  but  look  un- 
doubtingly  for  successive  improvements  as  Knowledge  Virtue,  Philanthropy, 
shall  be  more  and  more  diffused  among  men. 

********* 

"  Full  of  error  and  suffering  as  the  world  yet  is,  we  cannot  afford  to  reject 


rtiE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    TRIBUNE.  265 

\mexamined  any  idea  which  proposes  to  improve  the  Moral,  Intellectual,  or 
Social  condition  of  mankind.  Better  incur  the  trouble  of  testing  and  explod- 
ing a  thousand  fallacies  than  by  rejecting  stifle  a  single  beneficent  truth.  Es 
pecially  on  the  vast  theme  of  an  improved  Organization  of  Industry,  so  as  to 
secure  constant  opportunity  and  a  just  recompense  to  every  human  being  able 
and  willing  to  labor,  we  are  not  and  cannot  be  indifferent, 

********* 

"  No  subject  can  be  more  important  than  this ;  no  improvement  more  cer- 
tain of  attainment.  The  plans  hitherto  suggested  may  all  prove  abortive ; 
the  experiments  hitherto  set  on  foot  may  all  come  to  nought,  (as  many  of 
them  doubtless  will ;)  yet  these  mistakes  shall  serve  to  indicate  the  true  means 
of  improvement,  and  these  experiments  shall  bring  nearer  and  nearer  the 
grand  consummation  which  they  contemplate.  The  securing  of  thorough  Edu- 
cation, Opportunity  and  just  Reward  to  all,  cannot  bo  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  To  accelerate  it,  the  Tribune  has  labored  and  will 
labor  resolutely  and  hopefully.  Those  whose  dislike  to  or  distrust  of  the  in- 
vestigations in  this  field  of  human  effort  impel  them  to  reject  our  paper,  have 
ample  range  for  a  selection  of  journals  more  acceptable." 

In  the  spirit  of  these  words  the  Tribune  was  conducted.  And 
«very  man,  in  any  age,  who  conducts  his  life,  his  newspaper,  or  his 
business  in  that  spirit,  will  be  misunderstood,  distrusted  and  hated, 
in  exact  proportion  to  his  fidelity  to  it.  Perfect  fidelity,  the  world 
will  so  entirely  detest  that  it  will  destroy  the  man  who  attains  to  it. 
The  world  will  not  submit  to  be  so  completely  put  out  of  counte- 
nance. 

My  task,  in  this  chapter,  is  to  show  how  the  editor  of  the  Tri- 
bune comported  himself  when  he  occupied  the  position  of  target- 
general  to  the  Press,  Pulpit,  and  Stump  of  the  United  States.  He 
was  not  in  the  slightest  degree  distressed  or  alarmed.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  think  he  enjoyed  the  position;  and,  though  he  handled  his 
enemies  without  gloves,  and  called  a  spade  a  spade,  and  had  to  dis- 
patch a  dozen  foemen  at  once,  and  could  not  pause  to  select  his 
weapons,  yet  I  can  find  in  those  years  of  warfare  no  trace  of  bitter- 
ness on  his  part.  There  is  no  malice  in  his  satire,  no  spite  in  his 
anger.  He  seems  never  so  happy  as  when  he  is  at  bay,  and  is  never 
so  funny  as  when  he  is  repelling  a  personal  assault.  I  have  before 
me  several  hundreds  of  his  editorial  hits  and  repartees,  some  serious, 
more  comic,  some  refuting  argument,  others  exposing  slander,  some 
merely  vituperative,  others  very  witty,  all  extremely  readable, 

12 


266  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

though  the  occasions  that  called  them  forth  have  long  passed  by. 
My  plan  is  to  select  and  condense  a  few  of  each  kind,  presenting 
only  the  point  of  each. 

Many  of  our  editor's  replies  are  remarkable  chiefly  for  their  *  free 
and  easy'  manner,  their  ignoring  of  '  editorial  dignity.'  A  specimen 
or  two : 

In  reply  to  a  personal  attack  by  Major  Noah,  of  the  Union,  he 
begins,  "  We  ought  not  to  notice  this  old  villain  again."  On  another 
occasion,  "What  a  silly  old  joker  this  last  hard  bargain  of  Tylerism 
is !"  On  another,  "  Major  Noah !  why  won't  you  tell  the  truth  once 
in  a  century,  for  the  variety  of  the  thing."  On  another,  "  And  it  is 
by  such  poor  drivel  as  this  that  the  superannuated  renegade  from 
all  parties  and  all  principles  attempts  to  earn  his  forced  contribu- 
tions and  'Official'  advertisements!  Surely  his  latest  purchasers 
must  despise  their  worn-out  tool,  and  most  heartily  repent  of  their 
hard  bargain." 

Such  mild  openings  as  the  following  are  not  uncommon  : 

"The  Journal  of  Commerce  is  the  most  self-complacent  and  dogmatic  of 
all  possible  newspapers." 

"  The  villain  who  makes  this  charge  against  me  well  knows  that  it  is  the 
basest  falsehood." 

"  We  defy  the  Father  of  lies  himself  to  crowd  more  stupendous  falsehoods 
into  a  paragraph  than  this  contains." 

"  Mr.  Benton  !  each  of  the  above  observations  is  a  deliberate  falsehood,  and 
you  are  an  unqualified  villain  !" 

"  The  Express  is  surely  the  basest  and  paltriest  of  all  possible  journals." 

"  Having  been  absent  from  the  city  for  a  few  days,  I  perceive  with  a  pleas- 
urable surprise  on  my  return  that  the  Express  has  only  perpetrated  two  new 
calumnies  upon  me  of  any  consequence  since  Friday  evening." 

"  'Ephraim,'  said  a  grave  divine,  taking  his  text  from  one  of  the  prophets, 
'  is  a  cake  not  turned.  (Hosea,  vii.  8.)  Let  us  proceed,  therefore,  brethren, 
to  turn  Ephraim— first,  inside  out ;  next,  back-side  before  ;  and,  thirdly, 
'tother  end  up.' 

"  We  are  under  the  imperative  necessity  of  performing  on  Samuel  of  this 
day  a  searching  operation  like  unto  that  of  the  parson  on  Ephraim  of  old." 

That  will  suffice  for  the  vituperative.  We  proceed  to  those  of 
another  description : 


THE    TRIBUNE    AND   DR.  POTTS.  267 

PROVOCATION'. 

A  Sermon  by  Dr.  Potts,  denouncing  the  Tribune  as  agrarian,  &c., 
reported  in  the  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

REPLY. 

"  It  is  quite  probable  that  we  have  some  readers  among  the  pew-holders 
of  a  church  so  wealthy  and  fashionable  as  the  Dr.'s,  though  few,  we  presume, 
among  divines  as  well  salaried  as  he  is.  We  will  only  ask  those  of  our  patrons 
who  may  obey  his  command  to  read  for  their  next  Scripture  lesson  the  xxvth 
Chapter  of  Leviticus,  and  reflect  upon  it  for  an  hour  or  so.  We  are  very  sure 
they  will  find  the  exercise  a  profitable  one,  in  a  sense  higher  than  they  will 
have  anticipated.  Having  then  stopped  the  Tribune,  they  will  meditate  at 
leisure  on  the  abhorrence  and  execration  with  which  one  of  the  Hebrew  Proph- 
ets must  have  regarded  any  kind  of  an  Agrarian  or  Anti-Renter  ;  that  is, 
one  opposed  to  perpetuating  and  extending  the  relation  of  Landlord  and 
Tenant  over  the  whole  arable  surface  of  the  earth.  Perhaps  the  contempla- 
tion of  a  few  more  passages  of  Sacred  Writ  may  not  be  unprofitable  in  a  moral 
sense — for  example  : 

"  '  Woe  unto  them  that  join  [add]  house  to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field  . 
that  there  be  no  place,  that  they  be  placed  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.' 
— Isaiah,  v.  8. 

"  '  One  thing  thou  lackest :  go  thy  way,  sell  whatever  thou  hast,  and  give 
to  the  poor;  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  come,  take  up  the 
the  cross,  and  follow  me  : 

"  ( And  Jesus  looked  round  about,  and  saith  unto  his  disciples,  How  hardly 
shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  !' — Mark,  x.  21-23. 

"  '  And  all  that  believed  were  together,  and  had  all  things  common  ;  and 
sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all,  as  every  man  had 
need.' — Acts,  ii.  44,  45. 

"We  might  cite  columns  of  this  sort  from  the  Sacred  Volume,  showing  a 
deplorable  lack  of  Doctors  of  Divinity  in  ancient  times,  to  be  employed  at 
83,500  a  year  in  denouncing,  in  sumptuous,  pew-guarded  edifices  costing 
$75,000  each,  all  who  should  be  guilty  of  '  loosening  the  faith  of  many  in  the 
established  order  of  things'  Alas  for  their  spiritual  blindness  !  the  ancient 
Prophets — GOD'S  Prophets — appear  to  have  slight  faith  in  or  reverence  for 
that  '  established  order'  themselves  !  Their  '  schemes'  appear  to  have  been 
regarded  as  exceedingly  '  disorganizing'  and  hostile  to  'good  order'  by  the 
spiritual  rulers  of  the  people  in  those  days. 

"  That  Dr.  Potts,  pursuing  (we  trust)  the  career  most  congenial  to  his  feet- 
ings,  surrounded  by  every  comfort  and  luxury,  enjoying  the  best  society,  and 
enabled  to  support  and  educate  his  children  to  the  hight  of  his  desires,  should 
be  inclined  to  reprobate  all  '  nostrums '  for  the  cure  of  Social  evils,  and  sneer 


£68  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES, 

at  '  labor-saving  plans '  of  cooking,  washing,  schooling,  &c.,  is  rather  deplora* 
ble  than  surprising.  Were  he  some  poor  day-laborer,  subsisting  his  family 
and  paying  rent  on  the  dollar  a  day  he  could  get  when  the  weather  permitted 
and  some  employer's  necessity  or  caprice  gave  him  a  chance  to  earn  it,  we  be- 
lieve he  would  view  the  subject  differently.  As  to  the  spirit  which  can  de- 
nounce by  wholesale  all  who  labor,  in  behalf  of  a  Social  Reform,  in  defiance 
of  general  obloquy,  rooted  prejudice,  and  necessarily  serious  personal  sacri- 
fices, as  enemies  of  Christianity  and  G-ood  Morals,  and  call  upon  the  public  to 
starve  them  into  silence,  does  it  not  merit  the  rebuke  and  loathing  of  every 
generous  mind  7  Heaven  aid  us  to  imitate,  though  afar  off,  that  Divinest 
charity  which  could  say  for  its  persecutors  and  murderers,  '  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do!' 

#****#*** 

"  We  are  profoundly  conscious  that  the  moral  tone  and  bearing  of  the  Press 
fall  very  far  beneath  their  true  standard,  and  that  it  too  often  panders  to  pop* 
ular  appetites  and  prejudices  when  it  should  rather  withstand  and  labor  to  cor- 
rect them.  We,  for  example,  remember  having  wasted  many  precious  col* 
umns  of  this  paper,  whereby  great  good  might  have  been  done,  in  the  publi* 
cation  of  a  controversy  on  the  question,  '  Can  there  be  a  Church  without  a 
Bishop  V — a  controversy  unprofitable  in  its  subject,  verbose  and  pointless  in  its 
logic,  and  disgraceful  to  our  common  Christianity  in  its  exhibitions  of  unchar- 
itable temper  and  gladiatorial  tactics.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Potts  may  also  remem- 
ber that  controversy.  We  ask  the  Pulpit  to  strengthen  our  own  fallible  reso- 
lution never  to  be  tempted  by  any  hope  of  pecuniary  profit,  (pretty  sure  to  be 
delusivej  as  it  ought,)  into  meddling  with  such  another  discreditable  per* 
formance.  •  .^  ... 

"  We  do  not  find,  in  the  Courier's  report  of  this  sermon,  any  censures  upon 
that  very  large  and  popularly  respectable  class  of  journals  which  regularly 
hiro  out  their  columns,  Editorial  and  Advertising,  for  the  enticement  of  their 
readers  to  visit  grogeries,  theatres,  horse-races,  as  we  sometimes  have  thought- 
lessly done,  but  hope  never,  unless  through  deplored  inadvertence,  to  do  again* 
The  difficulty  of  entirely  resisting  all  temptations  to  these  lucrative  vices  is  so 
great,  and  the  temptations  themselves  so  incessant,  while  the  moral  mischief 
thence  accruing  is  so  vast  and  palpable,  that  we  can  hardly  think  the  Rev.  Dr, 
slurred  over  the  point,  while  we  can  very  well  imagine  that  his  respected  dis- 
ciple and  reporter  did  so.  At  this  moment,  when  the  great  battle  of  Temper- 
ance against  Liquid  Poison  and  its  horrible  sorceries  is  convulsing  our  State, 
and  its  issue  trembles  in  the  balance,  it  seems  truly  incredible  that  a  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  lecturing  on  the  iniquities  of  the  Press,  can  have  altogether  over- 
looked this  topic.  Cannot  the  Courier  from  its  reporter's  notes  supply  the 
omission?" 

PROVOCATION. 

An  advertisement  offering  a  prize  of  fifty  dollars  for  the  best 


SOME    PRIZE    TRACTS    SUGGESTED.  269 

tract  on  the  Impropriety  of  Dancing  by  members  of  churches,  the 
tract  to  be  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society. 

REPLY. 

"  The  notice  copied  above  suggests  to  us  some  other  subjects  on  which  we 
think  Tracts  are  needed — subjects  which  are  beginning  to  attract  the  thoughts 
of  not  a  few,  and  which  are,  like  dancing,  of  practical  moment.  We  would 
suggest  premiums  to  be  offered,  as  follows  : 

"  $20  for  the  best  Tract  on  c  The  rightfulness  and  consistency  of  a  Chris- 
tian's spending  $5,000  to  $10,000  a  year  on  the  appetites  and  enjoyments  of 
himself  and  family,  when  there  are  a  thousand  families  within  a  mile  of  him 
who  are  compelled  to  live  on  less  than  $200  a  year. 

"  $10  for  the  best  Tract  on  the  rightfulness  and  Christianity  of  a  Christian's 
building  a  house  for  the  exclusive  residence  of  himself  and  family,  at  a  cost 
of  $50,000  to  $100,000,  within  sight  of  a  hundred  families  living  in  hovels 
worth  less  than  $100. 

"  $5  for  the  best  Tract  on  the  Christianity  of  building  Churches  which  cost 
$100,000  each,  in  which  poor  sinners  can  only  worship  on  sufferance,  and  in 
the  most  out-of-the-way  corners. 

"  We  would  not  intimate  that  these  topics  are  by  any  means  so  important  as 
that  of  Dancing — far  from  it.  The  sums  we  suggest  will  shield  us  from  that 
imputation.  Yet  we  think  these  subjects  may  also  be  discussed  with  profit, 
and,  that  there  may  be  no  pecuniary  hinderance,  we  will  pay  the  premiums 
if  the  American  Tract  Society  will  publish  the  Tracts." 

PROVOCATION. 

An  assertion  in  the  Express,  that  the  Tribune  bestows  "  peculiar 
commendation  upon  that  part  of  the  new  Constitution  which  takes 
away  the  necessity  of  believing  in  a  Supreme  Being,  on  the  part  of 
him  who  may  be  called  to  swear  our  lives  or  property  away." 

REPLY. 

:"The  necessity  of  believing  in  a  Supreme  Being,'  in  order  to  be  a  legal 
witness,  never  existed ;  but  only  the  necessity  of  professing  to  believe  it.  Now, 
a  thorough  villain  who  was  at  the  same  time  an  Atheist  would  be  pretty  apt 
to  keep  to  himself  a  belief,  the  avowal  of  which  would  subject  him  to  legal 
penalties  and  popular  obloquy,  but  a  sincere,  honest  man,  whose  mind  had  be- 
come confused  or  clouded  with  regard  to  the  evidence  of  a  Universal  Father, 
would  be  very  likely  to  confess  his  lack  of  faith,  and  thereby  be  disabled  from 
testifying.  Su<;h  disability  deranges  the  administration  of  justice  and  facil- 
itates the  escape  of  the  guilty." 


270  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

PROVOCATION. 

An  assertion  that  it  is  false  pride,  that  makes  domestic  service  so 
abhorrent  to  American  girls. 

REPLY. 

"  You,  Madam,  who  talk  so  flippantly  of  the  folly  or  false  pride  of  our  girls, 
have  you  ever  attempted  to  put  yourself  in  their  place  and  consider  the  mat 
ter  1  Have  you  ever  weighed  in  the  balance  a  crust  and  a  garret  at  home, 
with  better  food  and  lodging  in  the  house  of  a  stranger  ?  Have  you  ever 
thought  of  the  difference  between  doing  the  most  arduous  and  repulsive  work 
for  those  you  love,  and  who  love  you,  and  doing  the  same  in  a  strange  place 
for  those  to  whom  your  only  bond  of  attachment  is  six  dollars  a  month  1 
Have  you  ever  considered  that  the  words  of  reproof  and  reproach,  so  easy  to 
utter,  are  very  hard  to  bear,  especially  from  one  whose  right  so  to  treat  you 
is  a  thing  of  cash  and  of  yesterday  1  Is  the  difference  between  freedom  and 
service  nothing  to  you  1  How  many  would  you  like  to  have  ordering  you?" 


PROVOCATION. 

A  vain-glorious  claim  to  pure  democracy  on  the  part  of  a  pro- 
slavery  Irish  paper. 


"  We  like  Irish  modesty — it  is  our  own  sort — but  Irish  ideas  of  Liberty  are 
not  always  so  thorough  and  consistent  as  we  could  wish  them.  To  hate  and 
resist  the  particular  form  of  Oppression  to  which  we  have  been  exposed,  by 
which  we  have  suffered,  is  so  natural  and  easy  that  we  see  little  merit  in  it ; 
to  loathe  and  defy  all  Tyranny  evermore,  is  what  few  severe  sufferers  by  Op- 
pression ever  attain  to.  Ages  of  Slavery  write  their  impress  on  the  souls  of 
the  victims — we  must  not  blame  them,  therefore,  but  cannot  stifle  our  con- 
sciousness nor  suppress  our  sorrow.  It  is  sad  to  see  how  readily  the  great 
mass  of  our  Irish-born  citizens,  themselves  just  escaped  from  a  galling,  de- 
grading bondage,  lend  themselves  to  the  iniquity  of  depressing  and  flouting 
the  down-trodden  African  Race  among  us — it  was  specially  sad  to  see  them 
come  up  to  the  polls  in  squads,  when  our  present  State  Constitution  was  adopt- 
ed, and  vote  in  solid  mass  against  Equal  Suffrage  to  all  Citizens,  shouting, 
'  Down  with  the  Nagurs  !  Let  them  go  back  to  Africa,  where  they  belong  !' 
— for  such  was  the  language  of  Adopted  Citizens  of  one  or  two  years'  stand- 
ing with  regard  to  men  born  here,  with  their  ancestors  before  them  for  several 
generations.  We  learn  to  hate  Despotism  and  Enslavement  more  intensely 
when  we  are  thus  confronted  by  their  ineffaceable  impress  on  the  souls  of 
too  many  of  their  victims." 


THE   MODERN   DRAMA.  271 

PROVOCATION. 

An  article  in  the  Sunday  Mercury  condemning  the  Tribune  for 
excluding  theatrical  criticism. 

REPLY. 

"  The  last  time  but  one  that  we  visited  a  theater — it  was  from  seven  to  ten 
years  ago — we  were  insulted  by  a  ribald,  buffoon  song,  in  derision  of  total  ab- 
stinence from  intoxicating  liquors.  During  the  last  season  we  understand  that 
Mr.  Brougham — whom  we  are  specially  blamed  by  the  Mercury  for  not  help- 
ing to  a  crowded  benefit — has  made  a  very  nice  thing  of  ridiculing  Socialism. 
We  doubt  whether  any  great,  pervading  reform  has  been  effected  since  there 
was  a  stage,  which  that  stage  has  not  ridiculed,  misrepresented,  aud  held  up 
to  popular  odium.  It  is  in  its  nature  the  creature  of  the  mob — that  is,  of  the 
least  enlightened  and  least  earnest  portion  of  the  community — and  flatters  the 
prejudices,  courts  the  favor,  and  varnishes  the  vices  of  that  portion.  It  bel- 
lows lustily  for  Liberty — meaning  license  to  do  as  you  please — but  has  small 
appetite  for  self-sacrifice,  patient  industry,  and  an  unselfish  devotion  to  duty. 
We  fear  that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  like  it,  even  with  its  groggeries  and  assig- 
nation-rooms shut  up — but  without  this  we  cannot  even  begin." 

PROYOOATION. 

A  sermon  by  Dr.  Hawks  denouncing  Socialism  in  the  usual  style 
of  well-fed  thoughtlessness. 

REPLY. 

"  If  '  the  Socialists,5  as  a  body,  were  called  upon  to  pronounce  upon  the  pro- 
priety of  taking  the  property  of  certain  doctors  of  divinity  and  dividing  it 
among  the  mechanics  and  laborers,  to  whom  they  have  run  recklessly  and 
heavily  in  debt,  we  have  no  doubt  they  would  vote  very  generally  and  heartily 
in  the  affirmative.' 

PROVOCATION. 

A  letter  bewailing  the  threatened  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

REPLY. 

"  The  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  not  be  the  dreadful  affair  he  repre- 
sents it.  It  would  be  a  very  absurd  act  on  the  part  of  the  seceding  party,  and 
would  work  great  inconvenience  and  embarrassment,  especially  to  the  people 
of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley.  In  time,  however,  matters  would  accommo- 
date themselves  to  the  new  political  arrangements,  and  we  should  grow  as 
many  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  and  get  as  many  yards  of  cloth  from  a  hun- 


EDITORIAL   REPARTEES, 


dred  pounds  of  wool,  as  we  now  do.  The  Union  is  an  excellent  thing  —  quite 
too  advantageous  to  be  broken  up  in  an  age  so  utilitarian  as  this  ;  but  it  is 
Dossible  to  exaggerate  even  its  blessings." 


PEOVOOATION. 

An  article  in  a  Southern  paper  recommending  the  secession  of 
the  Slave  States  from  the  Union. 

KEPLY. 

"  Dr.  Franklin  used  to  tell  an  anecdote  illustrative  of  his  idea  of  the  folly 
of  duelling,  substantially  thus  :  A  man  said  to  another  in  some  public  place, 
(  Sir,  I  wish  you  would  move  a  little  away  from  me,  for  a  disagreeable  odor  pro- 
ceeds from  you.'  'Sir,'  was  the  stern  response, '  that  is  an  insult,  and  you  must 
fight  me !'  '  Certainly,'  was  the  quiet  reply,  '  I  will  fight  you  if  you  wish 
it ;  but  I  don't  see  how  that  can  mend  the  matter.  If  you  kill  me,  I  also  shall 
smell  badly  ;  and  if  I  kill  you,  you  will  smell  worse  than  you  do  now.' 

"  We  have  not  yet  been  able  to  understand  what  our  Disunionists,  North  or 
South,  really  expect  to  gain  by  4issolving  the  Union.  *  *  *  '  Three  valu- 
able slaves  escaped,'  do  you  say  7  Will  slaves  be  any  less  likely  to  run  away 
when  they  know  that,  once  across  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  they  are  safe  from 
pursuit,  and  can  never  be  reclaimed  ?  '  Every  slaveholder  is  in  continual  ap- 
apprehension,'  say  you  1  In  the  name  of  wonder,  how  is  Disunion  to  soothe 
their  nervous  excitement?  'They  'won't  stand  it,'  eh!  Have  they  never 
heard  of  getting  c  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire'  ?  Do  let  us  hear  how 
Slavery  is  to  be  fortified  and  perpetuated  by  Disunion  !'* 

PEOVOCATION. 

The  excessive  eonfidence  of  Whigs  in  the  election  of  Henry  Clay. 

EEPLY. 

"  There  is  an  old  legend  that  once  on  a  time  all  the  folks  in  the  world 
entered  into  an  agreement  that  at  a  specified  moment  they  would  give  one 
unanimous  shout,  just  to  see  what  a  noise  they  could  make,  and  what  tre- 
mendous effects  it  would  produce.  The  moment  came — everybody  was  ex- 
pecting to  see  trees,  if  not  houses,  thrown  down  by  the  mighty  concussion ; 
when  lo !  the  only  sound  was  made  by  a  dumb  old  woman,  whose  tongue  waa 
loosed  by  the  excitement  of  the  occasion.  The  rest  had  all  stood  with  mouths 
and  ears  wide  open  to  hear  the  great  noise,  and  so  forgot  to  make  any  ! 

"  The  moral  we  trust  our  Whig  friends  everywhere  will  take  to  heart.'* 


A    PICTURE    FOR    POLK. 


273 


PROVOCATION. 

The  passage  in  the  President's  Message  which  condemned  those 
who  opposed  the  Mexican  war  as  unpatriotic. 


REPLY. 


foi- 


"IS  THIS  WAR  7" 

"  MONTEREY,  Oct.  7,  1846. 

"  While  I  was  stationed  with  our  left  wing  in  one  of  the  forts, 
on  the  evening  of  the  21st,  I  saw  a  Mexican  woman  busily  en- 
gaged in  carrying  bread  and  water  to  the  wounded  men  of  both 
armies.  I  saw  this  ministering  angel  raise  the  head  of  a 
wounded  man,  give  him  water  and  food,  and  then  carefully 
bind  up  his  wound  with  a  handkerchief  she  took  from  her  own 
head.  After  having  exhausted  her  supplies,  she  went  back  to 
her  own  house  to  get  more  bread  and  water  for  others.  As  she 
was  returning  on  her  mission  of  mercy,  to  comfort  other  wound- 
ed persons,  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  saw  the  poor  in- 
nocent creature  fall  dead !  I  think  it  was  an  accidental  shot 
that  struck  her.  I  would  not  be  willing  to  believe  otherwise. 
It  made  me  sick  at  heart,  and,  turning  from  the  scene,  I  in- 
voluntarily raised  my  eyes  towards  heaven,  and  thought,  great 
God !  and  is  this  War  ?  Passing  the  spot  next  day,  I  saw  her 
body  still  lying  there  with  the  bread  by  her  side,  and  the  broken 
gourd,  with  a  few  drops  of  water  still  in  it — emblems  of  her 
errand.  We  buried  her,  and  while  we  were  digging  her  grave, 
cannon  balls  flew  around  us  like  hail." — Cor,  Louisville  Cour. 


PROVOCATION. 

Complaints  of  Charles  Dickens'  Advocacy  of  International  Copy- 
right at  public  dinners. 

REPLY. 

"  We  trust  he  will  not  be  deterred  from  speaking  the  frank,  round  truth  by 
any  mistaken  courtesy,  diffidence,  or  misapprehension  of  public  sentiment. 
He  ought  to  speak  cmt  on  this  matter,  for  who  shall  protest  against  robbery 

12* 


274  EDITORIAL    REPARTEES. 

if  those  who  are  robbed  may  not?  Here  is  a  man  who  writes  for  a  living, 
and  writes  nobly ;  and  we  of  this  country  greedily  devour  his  writings,  are 
entertained  and  instructed  by  them,  yet  refuse  so  to  protect  his  rights  as  an 
author  that  he  can  realize  a  single  dollar  from  all  their  vast  American  sale 
and  popularity.  Is  this  right  ?  Do  we  look  well  offering  him  toasts,  compli- 
ments, and  other  syllabub,  while  we  refuse  him  naked  justice  ?  while  we 
say  that  every  man  may  take  from  him  the  fruits  of  his  labors  without  recom- 
pense or  redress  ?  It  does  very  well  in  a  dinner  speech  to  say  that  fame  and 
popularity,  and  all  that,  are  more  than  sordid  gold  ;  but  he  has  a  wife  and 
four  children,  whom  his  death  may  very  possibly  leave  destitute,  perhaps 
dependent  for  their  bread,  while  publishers,  who  have  grown  rich  on  his 
writings,  roll  by  in  their  carriages,  and  millions  who  have  been  instructed 
by  them  contribute  not  one  farthing  to  their  comfort.  But  suppose  him  rich, 
if  you  please,  the  justice  of  the  case  is  unaltered.  He  is  the  just  owner  of 
his  own  productions  as  much  as  though  he  had  made  axes  or  horse-shoes  ;  and 
the  people  who  refuse  to  protect  his  right,  ought  not  to  insult  him  with  the 
mockery  of  thriftless  praise.  Let  us  be  just,  and  then  generous.  Good 
reader  !  if  you  think  our  guest  ought  to  be  enabled  to  live  by  and  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  talents  and  toil,  just  put  your  names  to  a  petition  for  an  Inter- 
national Copyright  Law,  and  then  you  can  take  his  hand  heartily  if  it  comes 
in  your  way,  and  say,  if  need  be,  '  I  have  done  what  is  in  my  power  to  pro- 
tect you  from  robbery !'  The  passage  of  this  act  of  long-deferred  justice  will 
be  a  greater  tribute  to  his  worth  and  achievements  than  acres  of  inflated 
compliments  soaked  in  hogsheads  of  champagne." 

PROVOCATION. 

A  paragraph  recommending  a  pro  vision  for  life  for  the  soldiers 
disabled  in  the  Mexican  war. 

EEPLY. 

"Uncle  Sam  !  you  bedazzled  old  hedge-hog  !  don't  you  see  'glory'  is  cheap 
as  dirt,  only  you  never  get  done  paying  for  it !  Forty  years  hence,  your  boys 
will  be  still  paying  taxes  to  support  the  debt  you  are  now  piling  up,  and  the 
cripples  and  other  pensioners  you  are  now  manufacturing.  How  much  more 
of  this  will  satisfy  you  1" 

PROVOCATION. 

An  accusation  of  '  malignant  falsehood.' 

REPLY. 

"  There  lives  not  a  man  who  knows  tho  editor  of  this  paper  who  can  be 
made  to  believe  that  we  have  been  guilty  of  '  malignant  falsehood.' 
******** 


PREACHING    AND   PRACTICE.  275 

"  Wo  seek  no  controversy  with  the  Sun ;  but,  since  it  chooses  to  be  personal, 
we  defy  its  utmost  industry  and  malice  to  point  out  a  single  act  of  our  life  in- 
consistent with  integrity  and  honor.  We  dare  it,  in  this  respect,  to  do  its 
worst !" 

PEOVOCATION. 

This  sentence  in  the  Express :  "  If  the  editor  of  the  Tribune  be- 
lieved a  word  of  what  he  says,  he  would  convert  his  profitable 
printing  establishment  into  a  Fourier  common-stock  concern." 

EEPLT. 

"  If  our  adviser  will  just  point  us  to  any  passage,  rule,  maxim  or  precept  of 
Fourier  (of  whom  he  appears  to  know  so  much)  which  prescribes  a  pro  rata 
division  of  proceeds  among  all  engaged  in  producing  them,  regardless  of  abil- 
ity, efficiency,  skill,  experience,  etc.,  we  will  assent  to  almost  any  absurdity 
he  shall  dictate. 

******** 

"  As  to  '  carrying  out  his  theories  of  Fourierism,'  etc.,  he  (the  editor  of  the 
Tribune)  has  expended  for  this  specific  purpose  some  thousands  of  dollars,  and 
intends  to  make  the  same  disposition  of  more  as  soon  as  he  has  it  to  expend. 
Whether  he  ought  to  be  guided  by  his  own  judgment  or  that  of  the  Express 
man  respecting  the  time  and  manner  of  thus  testifying  his  faith,  he  will  con- 
sider in  duo  season.  He  has  never  had  a  dollar  which  was  not  the  fair  product 
of  his  own  downright  labor,  and  for  whatever  of  worldly  wealth  may  accrue 
to  him  beyond  the  needs  of  those  dependent  on  his  efforts  he  holds  himself 
but  the  steward  of  a  kind  Providence,  and  bound  to  use  it  all  as  shall  seem 
most  conducive  to  the  good  of  the  Human  Race.  It  is  quite  probable,  how- 
ever, that  he  will  never  satisfy  the  Express  that  he  is  either  honest,  sincere, 
or  well-meaning,  but  that  is  not  material.  He  has  chosen,  once  for  all,  to  an- 
swer a  sort  of  attack  which  has  become  fashionable  with  a  certain  class  of  his 
enemies,  and  can  hardly  be  driven  to  notice  the  like  again." 

PEOVOCATION. 

An  allusion  in  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  to  Mr.  Greeley's  diet, 
attire,  socialism,  philosophy,  etc. 

EEPLT. 

"It  is  true  that  the  editor  of  the  Tribune  chooses  mainly  (not  entirely) 
vegetable  food  ;  but  he  never  troubles  his  readers  on  the  subject ;  it  does  not 
worry  them;  why  should  it  concern  the  Colonel?  *  *  *  It  is  hard 
for  Philosophy  that  so  humble  a  man  shall  be  made  to  stand  as  its  exem- 


276  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

plar ;  while  Christianity  is  personified  by  the  hero  of  the  Sunday  duel  with 
Hon.  Tom.  Marshall ;  but  such  luck  will  happen. 

"As  to  our  personal  appearance,  it  does  seem  time  that  we  should  say  some- 
thing, to  stay  the  flood  of  nonsense  with  which  the  town  must  by  this  time  bo 
nauseated.  Some  donkey  a  while  ago,  apparently  anxious  to  assail  or  annoy 
the  editor  of  this  paper,  and  not  well  knowing  with  what,  originated  the  story 
of  his  carelessness  of  personal  appearances  ;  and  since  then  every  blockhead 
of  the  same  disposition  and  distressed  by  a  similar  lack  of  ideas,  has  repeated 
and  exaggerated  the  foolery  ;  until  from  its  origin  in  the  Albany  Microscope 
it  has  sunk  down  at  last  to  the  columns  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  growing 
more  absurd  at  every  landing.  Yet  all  this  time  the  object  of  this  silly  rail- 
lery has  doubtless  worn  better  clothes  than  two-thirds  of  those  who  thus  as- 
sailed him— better  than  any  of  them  could  honestly  wear,  if  they  paid  their 
debts  otherwise  than  by  bankruptcy ;  while,  if  they  are  indeed  more  cleanly 
than  he,  they  must  bathe  very  thoroughly  not  less  than  twice  a  day.  The 
editor  of  the  Tribune  is  the  son  of  a  poor  and  humble  farmer ;  came  to  New 
York  a  minor,  without  a  friend  within  200  miles,  less  than  ten  dollars  in  his 
pocket,  and  precious  little  besides ;  he  has  never  had  a  dollar  from  a  relative, 
and  has  for  years  labored  under  a  load  of  debt,  (thrown  on  him  by  others' 
misconduct  and  the  revulsion  of  1837,)  which  he  can  now  just  see  to  the  end 
of.  Thenceforth  he  may  be  able  to  make  a  better  show,  if  deemed  essential 
by  his  friends  ;  for  himself,  he  has  not  much  time  or  thought  to  bestow  on  the 
matter.  That  he  ever  affected  eccentricity  is  most  untrue ;  and  certainly  no 
costume  he  ever  appeared  in  would  create  such  a  sensation  in  Broadway  as 
that  James  Watson  Webb  would  have  worn  but  for  the  clemency  of  Governor 
Seward.  Heaven  grant  our  assailant  may  never  hang  with  such  weight  on 
another  Whig  Executive  !  We  drop  him." 

(Colonel  Webb  had  been  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment 
for  fighting  a  duel.  Governor  Seward  pardoned  him  before  he  had 
served  one  day  of  his  term.) 

PROVOCATION. 

A  charge  of  '  infidelity,'  in  the  Express. 

REPLY. 

"  The  editor  of  the  Tribune  has  never  been  anything  else  than  a  believer 
in  the  Christian  Religion,  and  has  for  many  years  been  a  member  of  a  Chris- 
tian Church.  He  never  wrote  or  uttered  a  syllable  in  favor  of  Infidelity. 
But  truth  is  lost  on  the  Express,  which  can  never  forgive  us  the  '  Infidel- 
ity '  of  circulating  a  good  many  more  copies,  Daily  and  Weekly,  than  are 
taken  of  that  paper." 


COL.  WEBB    SEVERELY   HIT.  277 

PROVOCATION. 

Letters  complaining  of  the  Tribune's  hostility  to  the  Mexican  war. 

EEPLY. 

"  Our  faith  is  strong  and  clear  that  we  serve  our  country  best  by  obeying 
our  Maker  in  all  things,  and  that  He  requires  us  to  bear  open,  unequivocal 
testimony  against  every  iniquity,  however  specious,  and  to  expose  every  lying 
pretense  whereby  men  are  instigated  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  each  others 
blood.  We  do  not  believe  it  possible  that  our  country  can  be  prospered  in  such 
a  war  as  this.  It  may  be  victorious  ;  it  may  acquire  immense  accessions  of 
territory  ;  but  these  victories,  these  acquisitions,  will  prove  fearful  calamities, 
by  sapping  the  morals  of  our  people,  inflating  them  with  pride  and  corrupting 
them  with  the  lust  of  conquest  and  of  gold,  and  leading  them  to  look  to  the 
Commerce  of  the  Indies  and  the  Dominion  of  the  Seas  for  those  substantial 
blessings  which  follow  only  in  the  wake  of  peaceful,  contented  Labor.  So  sure 
as  the  Universe  has  a  Kuler  will  every  acre  of  territory  we  acquire  by  this 
war  prove  to  our  Nation  a  curse  and  the  source  of  infinite  calamities." 

PEOVOOATION. 

An  attempt  on  the  part  of  Col.  Webb  to  excite  violence  against 
the  Tribune  and  its  editor. 

EEPLY. 

"  This  is  no  new  trick  on  the  part  of  the  Courier.  It  is  not  the  first  nor  the 
second  time  that  it  has  attempted  to  excite  a  mob  to  violence  and  outrage 
against  those  whom  it  hates.  In  July,  1834,  when,  owing  to  its  ferocious  de- 
nunciations of  the  Abolitionists,  a  furious  and  law-defying  mob  held  virtual 
possession  of  our  city,  assaulting  dwellings,  churches  and  persons  obnoxious  to 
its  hate,  and  when  the  Mayor  called  out  the  citizens  by  Proclamation  to  assist 
in  restoring  tranquillity,  the  Courier  (llth  July)  proclaimed: 

"  'It  is  time,  for  the  reputation  of  the  city,  and  perhaps  for  the  welfare  of 
themselves,  that  these  Abolitionists  and  Amalgamatiomsts  should  know  the 
ground  on  which  they  stand.  They  are,  we  learn,  always  clamorous  with  the 
Police  for  protection,  and  demand  it  as  a  right  inherent  to  their  characters  as 
American  citizens.  Now  ice  tell  them  that,  when  they  openly  and  publicly 
outrage  public  feeling,  they  have  no  right  to  demand  protection  from  the  Peo- 
ple they  thus  insult.  When  they  endeavor  to  disseminate  opinions  which,  if 
generally  imbibed,  must  infallibly  destroy  our  National  Union,  and  produce 
scenes  of  blood  and  carnage  horrid  to  think  of;  when  they  thus  preach  up 
treason  and  murder,  the  cegis  of  the  Law  indignantly  withdraws  its  shelter 
from  them. 


278  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

"  '  When  they  vilify  our  religion  by  classing  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  in 
the  lowest  grade  of  the  human  species  ;  when  they  debase  the  noble  race  from 
which  we  spring — that  race  which  called  civilization  into  existence,  and  from 
which  have  proceeded  all  the  great,  the  brave,  and  the  good  that  have  ever 
lived — and  place  it  in  the  same  scale  as  the  most  stupid,  ferocious  and  cow- 
ardly of  the  divisions  into  which  the  Creator  has  divided  mankind,  then  they 
place  themselves  beyond  the  pale  of  all  law,  for  they  violate  every  law,  divine 
and  human.  Ought  not,  we  ask,  our  City  authorities  to  make  them  understand 
this ;  to  tell  them  that  they  prosecute  their  treasonable  and  beastly  plans  at 
their  own  peril  ?' 

"  Such  is  the  man,  such  the  means,  by  which  he  seeks  to  bully  Freemen  out 
of  the  rights  of  Free  Speech  and  Free  Thought.  There  are  those  who  cower 
before  his  threats  and  his  ruffian  appeals  to  mob  violence — here  is  one  who 
never  will !  All  the  powers  of  Land-jobbing  and  Slave-jobbing  cannot  drive 
us  one  inch  from  the  ground  we  have  assumed  of  determined  and  open  hostil- 
ity to  this  atrocious  war,  its  contrivers  and  abettors.  Let  those  who  threaten 
us  with  assassination  understand,  once  for  all,  that  we  pity  while  we  despise 
their  baseness." 

PROVOCATION. 

The  following,  from  the  Express :  "  For  woman  we  think  the 
fittest  place  is  home,  '  sweet  home  ' — by  her  own  fireside  and  among 
her  own  children ;  but  the  Tribune  would  put  her  in  trowsers,  or 
on  stilts  as  a  public  woman,  or  tumble  her  pell-mell  into  some  Fou- 
rier establishment." 

REPLY. 

The  following,  from  the  Express  of  the  same  date :  "  At  the  Park  this  even- 
ing the  graceful  Augusta,  (whose  benefit,  last  night,  notwithstanding  the 
weather,  was  fashionably  and  numerously  attended,)  takes  her  leave  of  us  for 
the  present.  We  can  add  nothing  to  what  we  have  already  said  in  praise  of 
this  charming  artist's  performances,  farther  than  to  express  the  hope  that  it 
may  not  be  long  ere  we  are  again  permitted  to  see  her  upon  our  boards.  As 
in  beauty,  grace,  delicacy,  and  refinement,  she  stands  alone  in  her  profession, 
so  in  private  life  she  enjoys,  and  most  justly,  too,  the  highest  reputation  in  all 
her  relations." 

PROVOCATION. 

To  what  a  low  degree  of  debasement  must  the  Coons  have  indeed 
fallen,  when  even  so  notorious  a  reprobate  as  Nick  Biddle  is  disgust- 
ed with  tkem. — Plebeian. 

REPLY. 

"  All  the  'notorious  reprobates  '  in  the  country  were  '  disgusted'  with  the 
Whigs  long  ago.  They  have  found  their  proper  resting-place  in  the  embraces 
of  Loco-Focoism." 


*  EXPEDIENCY.  279 

PROVOCATION. 

Our  whole  national  debt  is  less  than  sixty  days'  interest  on  that 
of  Great  Britain,  yet,  with  all  our  resources  the  English  call  us 
bankrupt ! — Boston  Post. 

EEPLY. 

"  But  England  pays  her  interest — large  as  it  is  ;  and  if  our  States  will  not 
pay  even  their  debts,  small  as  they  are,  why  should  they  not  be  called 
bankrupt  ?" 

PROVOCATION". 

A  charge  that  the  Tribune  sacrified  the  Right  to  the  Expedient. 

EEPLY. 

"  Old  stories  very  often  have  a  forcible  application  to  present  times.  The 
following  anecdote  we  met  with  lately  in  an  exchange  paper  : 

"  '  How  is  it,  John,  that  you  bring  the  wagon  home  in  such  a  condition  ?" 

"  '  I  broke  it  driving  over  a  stump." 

" '  Where  V 

"  '  Back  in  the  woods,  half  a  mile  or  so." 

"  (  But  why  did  you  run  against  the  stump  ?  Could  n't  you  see  how  to  drive 
straight?" 

(( '  I  did  drive  straight,  sir,  and  that  is  the  very  reason  that  I  drove  over  it. 
The  stump  was  directly  in  the  middle  of  the  road." 

"  '  Why,  then,  did  you  not  go  round  it  ?" 

"  c  Because,  sir,  the  stump  had  no  right  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  I  had 
a  right  in  it." 

"  '  True,  John,  the  stump  ought  not  to  have  been  in  the  road,  but  I  wonder 
that  you  were  so  foolish  as  not  to  consider  that  it  was  there,  and  that  it 
was  stronger  than  your  wagon." 

"  '  Why,  father,  do  you  think  that  I  am  always  going  to  yield  up  my 
rights?  Not  I.  I  am  determined  to  stick  up  to  them,  come  what  will." 

"  '  But  what  is  the  use,  John,  of  standing  up  to  rights,  when  you  only  get  a 
greater  wrong  by  so  doing  ?" 

"  '  I  shall  stand  up  for  them  at  all  hazards." 

"  '  Well,  John,  all  I  have  to  say  is  this — hereafter  you  must  furnish  your 
own  wa.gon." 

PEOVOCATIOlf. 

The  application  of  the  word  '  Bah '  to  one  of  the  Tribune's  ar- 
guments. 

EEPLY. 

"  We  are  quite  willing  that  every  animal  should  express  its  emotions  in  the 
language  natural  to  it." 


280  EDITORIAL   REPARTEES. 

PROVOCATION. 


Conservatism  in  general. 


REBUKE. 


"  The  stubborn  conservative  is  like  a  horse  on  board  a  ferry-boat.  The  horse 
may  back,  but  the  boat  moves  on,  and  the  animal  with  it." 

PROVOCATION. 

A  correspondent,  to  illustrate  his  position,  that  slave-owners  have 
a  right  to  move  with  their  slaves  into  new  territories,  compared 
those  territories  to  a  village  common,  upon  which  every  villager 
has  an  equal  right  to  let  his  animals  graze. 

REPLY. 

"  No,  sir.  A  man  may  choose  to  pasture  his  geese  upon  the  common,  which 
would  spoil  the  pasture  for  cows  and  horses.  The  other  villagers  would  be 
right  in  keeping  out  the  geese,  even  by  violence." 

And  thus  the  Tribune  warred,  and  warring,  prospered.  Repeat- 
ed supplements,  ever-increasing  circulation,  the  frequent  omission 
of  advertisements,  all  testified  that  a  man  may  be  independent  in 
the  expression  of  the  most  unpopular  opinions,  and  yet  not  be 
4  starved  into  silence.' 

One  more  glance  at  the  three  volumes  from  which  most  of  the 
above  passages  are  taken,  and  we  accompany  our  hero  to  new 
scenes.  In  the  Fifty-four-forty-or-Fight  controversy,  the  Tribune 
of  course  took  the  side  of  peace  and  moderation.  Its  obituary  of 
General  Jackson  in  1845,  being  not  wholly  eulogistic,  called  forth 
angry  comment  from  the  democratic  press.  In  the  same  year,  it 
gave  to  the  advocates  respectively  of  phonography,  the  phonetic 
system,  and  the  magnetic  telegraph,  an  ample  hearing,  and  occa- 
sional encouragement.  In  1846,  its  Reporters  were  excluded  from 
the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  because  a  correspond- 
ent stated,  jocularly,  that  Mr.  Sawyer,  of  Ohio,  lunched  in  the 
House  on  sausages.  The  weak  member  has  since  been  styled  Sau- 
sage Sawyer — a  name  which  he  will  put  off  only  with  his  mortal 
coil.  Throughout  the  Mexican  war,  the  Tribune  gave  all  due  honor 
to  the  gallantry  of  the  soldiers  who  fought  its  battles,  on  one  occa- 
sion defending  Gen.  Pierce  from  the  charge  of  cowardice  and  boast- 
ing. In  1847,  the  editor  made  the  tour  of  the  great  lake  country, 


WAGER   WITH    THE    HERALD.  281 

going  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  Lake  Superior,  and  writing  a  series 
of  letters  which  revealed  the  charms  and  the  capabilities  of  that 
region.  In  the  same  year  it  gave  a  complete  exposition  of  the  so- 
called  '  Revelations'  of  Mr.  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  but  without  ex- 
pressing any  opinion  as  to  their  supernatural  origin.  War  followed, 
of  course.  To  Mr.  Whitney's  Pacific  Railroad  scheme  it  assigned 
sufficient  space.  Agassiz'  lectures  were  admirably  reported,  with 
from  ten  to  twenty  woodcuts  in  the  report  of  each  lecture.  Gen. 
Taylor's  nomination  to  the  presidency  it  descried  in  the  distance, 
and  opposed  vehemently. 

The  last  event  of  the  seventh  volume  was  the  dispute  with  the 
Herald  on  the  subject  of  the  comparative  circulation  of  the  two 
papers.  The  Tribune  challenged  the  Herald  to  an  investigation  by 
an  impartial  committee,  whose  report  each  paper  should  publish, 
and  the  losing  party  to  give  a  hundred  dollars  to  each  of  the  two 
orphan  asylums  of  the  city.  The  Herald  accepted.  The  report  of 
the  committee  was  as  follows  : 

"  The  undersigned  having  been  designated  by  the  publishers  of  the  New 
York  Herald  and  New  York  Tribune,  respectively,  to  examine  jointly  and  re- 
port for  publication  the  actual  circulation  of  these  two  journals,  have  made 
the  scrutiny  required,  and  now  report,  that  the  average  circulation  of  the  two 
papers  during  the  four  weeks  preceding  the  agreement  which  originated  this 
investigation,  was  as  follows  : 
JVew>  York  Herald. 

Average  Daily  circulation 16,711 

"       Weekly          "     11,455 

"       Presidential   "     ,  780 


Total 28,946 


New  York  Tribune. 


Average  Daily  circulation 11,455 

»       Weekly       " 15,780 

"        Semi- Weekly      960 

Total 28,195 


"  The  quantity  of  paper  used  by  each  establishment,  during  the  four  weeks 
above  specified,  was  as  follows  :  By  the  New  York  Herald,  975  reams  for  the 
Daily  ;  95i  reams  for  the  Weekly,  and  5  reams  for  the  Presidential.  By  the 
New  York  Tribune,  573  reams  for  the  Daily  ;  13H  reams  for  the  Weekly,  and 
16  reams  for  the  Semi- Weekly. 

"  We  therefore  decide  that  the  Herald  has  the  larger  average  circulation. 

"  JAMES  G.  WILSON. 
"DANIEL  H.  MEGIE." 

The  Tribune  paid  the  money,  but  protested  that  the  '  Presidential 
Herald,'  and,  above  all,  the  Sunday  Herald,  ought  to  have  ben  ex- 
cluded from  the  comparison. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

1848! 

Revolutions  in  Europe — The  Tribune  exults — The  Slievegammon  letters — Taylor  and 
Fillmore— Course  of  the  Tribune— Horace  Greeley  at  Vauxhall  Garden— His 
election  to  Congress. 

THE  Year  of  Hope !  You  have  not  forgotten,  O  reader,  the 
thrill,  the  tumult,  the  ecstasy  of  joy  with  which,  on  the  morning 
of  March  28th,  1848,  you  read  in  the  morning  papers  these  electric 
and  transporting  capitals.  Regale  your  eyes  with  them  once 
more : 

FIFTEEN  DAYS  LATER  FROM  EUROPE. 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  CAMBRIA, 

HIGHLY  IMPORTANT   NEWS! 

ABDICATION  OF  LOUIS   PHILLIPPE! 

A  REPUBLIC  PROCLAIMED. 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  HAVE  LEFT  PARIS. 


ASSAULT    OJV    THE    PALAIS    ROYAL. 


GEEAT   LOSS   OF   LIFE. 


COMMUNICATION  WITH  THE  INTERIOR  CUT  OFF. 


RESIGNATION    OF    MINISTERS. 
REVOLT  IN  AMIENS.-PARIS  IN  ALARM. 


What  history  is  condensed  in  these  few  words  ?  "Why  has  not 
that  history  been  faithfully  and  minutely  recorded,  as  a  warning 
and  a  guide  to  the  men  of  future  revolutions  ?  Why  has  no  one 
deduced  from  the  events  of  the  last  eighty  years  a  science  of  Rev- 
olution, laid  down  the  principles  upon  which  success  is  possible, 
probable,  certain  ?  The  attempt,  and  not  the  deed  confounded  Eu- 


THE    SLIEVEGAMMON   LETTERS.  283 

rope,  and  condemned  her  to  more  years  of  festering  stagnation. 
"  As  I  looked  out  of  the  window  of  my  hotel,  in  Boulogne,"  says 
a  recent  traveler,  "  it  seemed  to  me  that  all  the  men  were  soldiers, 
and  that  women  did  all  the  work."  How  pitiful !  How  shameful ! 
A  million  of  men  under  arms  !  The  army,  the  elite  of  the  nation  I 
One  man  of  every  ten  to  keep  the-  other  nine  in  order  /  O !  in- 
finite and  dastardly  imbecility ! 

I  need  not  say  that  the  Tribune  plunged  into  the  European  con- 
tests headlong.  It  chronicled  every  popular  triumph  with  exulta- 
tion unbounded.  One  of  the  editors  of  the  paper,  Mr.  Charles  A. 
Dana,  went  to  Europe  to  procure  the  most  authentic  and  direct  in- 
formation of  events  as  they  transpired,  and  his  letters  over  the 
well-known  initials,  '  0.  A.  D.,'  were  a  conspicuous  and  valuable 
feature  of  the  year.  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  incessantly  on  the  subject, 
blending  advice  with  exhortation,  jubilation  with  warning.  In  be- 
half of  Ireland,  his  sympathies  were  most  strongly  aroused,  and  he 
accepted  a  place  in  the  "  Directory  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland,"  to  the 
funds  of  which  he  contributed  liberally. 

It  was  in  August  of  this  year,  that  the  famous  "  Slievegammon  " 
letters  were  published.  As  frequent  allusions  to  this  amusing  affair 
are  still  made  in  the  papers,  it  may  as  well  be  explained  here.  The 
country  was  on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation  for  important  news  of  the 
Irish  rebellion.  The  steamer  arrived.  Among  the  despatches  of 
the  Tribune  were  three  letters  from  Dublin,  giving  news  not  con- 
tained in  the  newspapers.  The  Tribune  "  without  vouching  for  the 
accuracy  of  the  statements,"  made  haste  to  publish  the  letters, 
with  due  glorification.  This  is  one  of  them : 

DUBLIN,  Aug.  3,  1848. 

"  No  newspaper  here  dare  tell  the  truth  concerning  the  battle  of  Slieve- 
namon,  but  from  all  we  can  learn,  the  people  have  had  a  great  victory.  Gen. 
Macdonald,  the  commander  of  the  British  forces,  is  killed,  and  six  thousand 
troops  are  killed  and  wounded.  The  road  for  three  miles  is  covered  with  the 
dead.  We  also  have  the  inspiring  intelligence  that  Kilkenny  and  Limerick 
have  been  taken  by  the  people.  The  people  of  Dublin  have  gone  in  thousands 
to  assist  in  the  country.  Mr.  John  B.  Dillon  was  wounded  in  both  legs.  Mr. 
Meagher  was  also  wounded  in  both  arms.  It  is  generally  expected  that  Dub- 
lin will  rise  and  attack  the  jails  on  Sunday  night,  (Aug.  6.) 

"All  the  people  coining  in  on  the  Railroad  are  cautioned  and  commanded 


284  THE  YEAR  OF  HOPE. 

not  to  tell  the  news.  When  the  cars  arrive,  thousands  of  the  Dublin  people 
are  waiting  for  the  intelligence.  The  police  drive  away  those  who  are  seen 
asking  questions.  Why  all  this  care  of  the  government  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  intelligence,  unless  it  be  that  something  has  happened  which  they  want 
kept  as  a  secret  ?  If  they  ha  1  obtained  a  victory  they  would  be  very  apt  to 
let  us  know  it. 

"  We  are  informed  that  the  3d  Bluffs  (a  regiment  of  Infantry)  turned  and 
fought  with  the  people.  The  31st  regiment,  at  Athlone,  have  also  declared  for 
the  people,  and  two  regiments  have  been  sent  to  disarm  them. 

"  The  mountain  of  Slievenamon  is  almost  inaccessible.  There  is  but  one 
approach  to  it.  It  is  said  to  be  well  supplied  with  provisions.  It  was  a  glo- 
rious place  for  our  noble  Smith  O'Brien  to  select.  It  is  said  he  has  sixty 
thousand  men  around  him,  with  a  considerable  supply  of  arms,  ammunition, 
and  cannon.  In  '98,  the  rebels  could  not  be  taken  from  Slievenamon  until 
they  chose  to  come  out  themselves. 

"  A  lady  who  came  to  town  yesterday,  and  who  had  passed  the  scene  of  bat- 
tle, said  that  for  three  miles  the  stench  arising  froni  the  dead  men  and  horses 
was  almost  suffocating. 

"  Wexford  was  quite  peaceable  till  recently — but  the  government  in  its  mad- 
ness proclaimed  it,  and  now  it  is  in  arms  to  assist  the  cause.  Now  that  we  are 
fairly  and  spiritedly  at  it,  are  we  not  worthy  of  help  ?  What  are  you  doing 
for  us  ?  People  of  America,  Ireland  stretches  her  hand  to  you  for  assistance. 
Do  not  let  us  be  disappointed.  B." 

For  a  day  or  two,  the  Irish  and  the  friends  of  Ireland  exulted ; 
but  when  the  truth  bceame  known,  their  note  was  sadly  changed, 
and  the  Tribune  was  widely  accused  of  having  originated  a  hoax. 
Whereas,  it  was  only  too  innocent ! 

The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  affair  was,  that  the  letters 
were  written  in  good  faith.  The  mind  of  Dublin  was  in  a  delirium 
of  excitement,  rumors  of  the  wildest  description  were  readily  be^ 
lieved,  and  the  writer  of  the  Slievegammon  letters  was  as  completely 
deceived  as  any  of  his  readers.  It  need  only  be  added,  that  Hor- 
ace Greeley  never  saw  the  letters  till  he  saw  them  in  print  in  the 
columns  of  the  Tribune ;  when  they  appeared,  he  was  touring  in 
the  uttermost  parts  of  Lake  Superior. 

This  was  the  year,  too,  of  the  Taylor  and  Fillmore  'campaign;' 
from  which,  however,  the  Tribune  held  obstinately  aloof  till  late  in 
the  summer.  Mr.  Greeley  had  opposed  the  nomination  of  Gen. 
Taylor  from  the  day  it  began  to  be  agitated.  He  opposed  it  at 
the  nominating  convention  in  Philadelphia,  and  used  all  his  influ- 


SLlEVEGAMMON    LETTERS.  285 

ence  to  secure  tfie  nomination  of  Henry  Clay.  As  soon  as  the  final 
ballot  decided  the  contest  in  favor  of  Taylor,  he  rushed  from  the 
hall  in  disgust,  and,  on  his  return  to  New  York,  could  not  sufficient- 
ly overcome  his  repugnance  to  the  ticket^  to  print  it,  as  the  custom 
then  was,  at  the  head  of  his  editorial  columns.  He  ceased  to  oppose 
the  election  of  Gen.  Taylor,  but  would  do  nothing  to  promote  itk 
The  list  of  candidates  does  not  appear,  in  the  usual  place  in  the  Tri& 
bune,  as  the  regular  'Whig  nominations,'  till  the  twenty-ninth  of 
September,  and  even  then,  our  editor  consented  to  its  appearance 
with  great  reluctance.  Two  days  before,  a  whig  meeting  had  been 
held  at  Vauxhall  Garden,  which  Mr.  Greeley  chanced  to  attend^ 
He  was  seen  by  the  crowd,  and  after  many,  and  very  vociferous 
calls,  he  made  a  short  address)  to  the  following  effect : 

"  I  trust,  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  never  be  afraid  nor  ashamed  to  meet  a 
Whig  assemblage  and  express  my  sentiments  on  the  political  questions  of  the 
day.  And  although  I  have  had  no  intimation  till  now  that  my  presence  here 
was  expected  or  desired,  I  am  the  more  ready  to  answer  your  call  since  I  have 
heard  intimations,  even  from  this  stand,  that  there  was  some  mystery  in  my 
course  to  be  cleared  up— some  astounding  revelation  with  regard  to  it  to  be 
expected.  And  our  eloquent  friend  from  Kentucky  even  volunteered,  in  his 
remarks,  to  see  me  personally  and  get  me  right.  If  there  be  indeed  any 
mystery  in  the  premises,  I  will  do  my  best  to  dispel  it.  But  I  have,  in  truthj 
nothing  to  reveal.  I  stated  in  announcing  Gen.  Taylor's  nomination,  the  day 
after  it  was  made,  that  I  would  support  if  I  saw  no  other  way  to  defeat  the 
election  of  Lewis  Cass.  That  pledge  I  have  ever  regarded.  I  shall  faithfully 
redeem  it.  And,  since  there  is  now  no  chance  remaining  that  any  other  than 
Gen.  Taylor  or  Gen.  Cass  can  be  elected,  I  shall  henceforth  support  the  ticket 
nominated  at  Philadelphia,  and  do  what  I  can  for  its  election. 

"But  I  have  not  changed  my  opinion  of  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor.  I 
believe  it  was  unwise  and  unjust.  For  Gen.  Taylor,  personally,  I  have  ever 
spoken  with  respect ;  but  I  believe  a  candidate  could  and  should  have  been 
chosen  more  deserving,  more  capable,  more  popular.  I  cannot  pretend  to  sup- 
port him  with  enthusiasm,  for  I  do  not  feel  any. 

"  Yet  while  I  frankly  avow  that  I  would  do  little  merely  to  make  Gen.  Tay- 
lor President,  I  cannot  forget  that  others  stand  or  fall  with  him,  and  that 
among  them  are  Fillmore  and  Fish  and  Patterson,  with  whom  I  have  battled 
for  the  "Whig  cause  ever  since  I  was  entitled  to  vote,  and  to  whom  I  cannot 
now  be  unfaithful.  I  cannot  forget  that  if  Gen.  Taylor  be  elected  we  shall  in 
all  probability  have  a  Whig  Congress;  if  Gen.  Cass  is  elected,  a  Loco-Foco 
Congress.  Who  can  ask  me  to  throw  away  all  these  because  of  my  objections 
to  Gen.  Taylor? 


286  THE   YEAR    OF   HOPE. 

"And  then  the  question  of  Free  Soil,  what  shall  be  th*.  fate  of  that?  I 
presume  there  are  here  some  Free  Soil  men  ['Yes!  Yes!  all  Free  Soil!'] — I 
mean  those  to  whom  the  question  of  extending  or  restricting  Slavery  out- 
weighs all  other  considerations.  I  ask  these  what  hope  they  have  of  keeping 
Slavery  out  of  California  and  New- Mexico  with  Gen.  Cass  President,  and  a 
Loco-Foco  Congress  ?  I  have  none.  And  I  appeal  to  every  Free  Soil  Whig 
to  ask  himself  this  question — '  How  would  South  Carolina  and  Texas  wish  you 
to  vote  ?'  Can  you  doubt  that  your  bitter  adversaries  would  rejoice  to  hear 
that  you  had  resolved  to  break  off  from  the  Whig  party  and  permit  Gen  Cass 
to  be  chosen  President,  with  an  obedient  Congress  ?  I  cannot  doubt  it.  And 
I  cannot  believe  that  a  wise  or  worthy  course,  which  my  bitterest  adversaries 
would  gladly  work  out  for  me. 

"Of  Gen.  Taylor's  soundness  on  this  question,  I  feel  no  assurance,  and  can 
give  none.  But  I  believe  him  clearly  pledged  by  his  letters  to  leave  legisla- 
tion to  Congress,  and  not  attempt  to  control  by  his  veto  the  policy  of  the  coun- 
try. I  believe  a  Whig  Congress  will  not  consent  to  extend  Slavery,  and  that  a 
Whig  President  will  not  go  to  war  with  Congress  and  the  general  spirit  of  his 
party.  So  believing,  I  shall  support  the  Whig  nominations  with  a  view  to  the 
triumph  of  Free  Soil,  trusting  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when  an  amend- 
ment of  the  Federal  Constitution  will  give  the  appointment  of  Postmasters 
and  other  local  officers  to  the  People,  and  strip  the  President  of  the  enormous 
and  anti- republican  patronage  which  now  causes  the  whole  Political  action  of 
the  country  to  hinge  upon  its  Presidential  Elections.  Such  are  my  views ; 
such  will  be  my  course.  I  trust  it  will  no  longer  be  pretended  that  there  is 
any  mystery  about  them." 

This  speech  was  received  with  particular  demonstrations  of  ap- 
proval. It  was  felt  that  a  serious  obstacle  to  Gen.  Taylor's  success 
was  removed,  and  that  now  the  whig  party  would  march  on  in  an 
unbroken  phalanx  to  certain  victory. 

The  day  which  secured  its  triumph  elected  Horace  Greeley  to  a 
seat  in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  which  the  death  of  a  member 
had  made  vacant.  He  was  elected  for  one  session  only,  and  that, 
the  short  one  of  three  months.  How  he  came  to  be  nominated  has 
been  explained  by  himself  in  a  paragraph  on  the  corruptive  machin- 
ery of  our  primary  elections  :  "  An  editor  of  the  Tribune  was  once 
nominated  through  that  machinery.  So  he  was — to  serve  ninety 
days  in  Congress — and  he  does  n't  feel  a  bit  proud  of  it.  But  let 
it  be  considered  that  the  Convention  was  not  chosen  to  nominate 
him,  and  did  not  (we  presume)  think  of  doing  any  such  thing, 


HIS   ELECTION    TO    CONGRESS.  287 

until  it  bad  unanimously  nominated  another,  who  unexpectedly  de- 
clined, and  then  one  of  us  was  pitched  upon  to  supply  his  place. 
We  don't  know  whether  the  Primaries  were  as  corrupt  then  as  now 
or  not ;  our  impression  is  that  they  have  been  growing  steadily 
worse  and  worse — but  no  matter — let  us  have  them  reformed." 

His  nomination  introduced  great  spirit  into  the  contest,  and  he 
was  voted  for  with  enthusiasm,  particularly  by  two  classes,  work- 
ing-men and  thinking-men.  His  majority  over  his  opponent  was 
3,177,  the  whole  number  of  votes  being  5,985.  His  majority  con- 
siderably exceeded  that  of  Gen.  Taylor  in  the  same  wards.  At 
the  same  election  Mr.  Brooks,  of  the  Express,  was  elected  to  a  seat 
in  the  House,  and  his  '  Card'  of  thanksgiving  to  those  who  had 
voted  for  him,  elicited  or  suggested  the  following  from  Mr. 
Greeley : 

"  TO   THE   ELECTORS   OF   THE   YITH  CONGRESSIONAL  DISTRICT. 

"  The  undersigned,  late  a  candidate  for  Congress,  respectfully  returns  his 
thanks — first,  to  his  political  opponents  for  the  uniform  kindness  and  considera- 
tion with  which  he  was  treated  by  them  throughout  the-  canvass,  and  the  un- 
solicited suffrages  with  which  he  was  honored  by  many  of  them  ;  secondly,  to 
the  great  mass  of  his  political  brethren,  for  the  ardent,  enthusiastic  and  effect- 
ive support  which  they  rendered  him ;  and,  lastly,  to  that  small  portion  of 
the  Whig  electors  who  saw  fit  to  withhold  from  him  their  votes,  thereby 
nearly  or  quite  neutralizing  the  support  he  received  from  the  opposite  party. 
Claiming  for  himself  the  right  to  vote  for  or  against  any  candidate  of  his 
party  as  his  own  sense  of  right  and  duty  shall  dictate,  he  very  freely  accords 
to  all  others  the  same  liberty,  without  offense  or  inquisition. 

"  During  the  late  canvass  I  have  not,  according  to  my  best  recollection, 
spoken  of  myself,  and  have  not  replied  in  any  way  to  any  sort  of  attack  or 
imputation.  I  have  in  no  manner  sought  to  deprecate  the  objections,  nor  to 
soothe  the  terrors  of  that  large  and  most  influential  class  who  deem  my  ad- 
vocacy of  Land  Reform  and  Social  Re-organization  synonymous  with  In- 
fidelity and  systematic  Robbery.  T\>  have  entered  upon  explanations  or  vin- 
dications of  my  views  on  these  subjects  in  the  crisis  of  a  great  National 
struggle,  which  taxed  every  energy,  and  demanded  every  thought,  comported 
neither  with  my  leisure  nor  my  inclination. 

<;  Neither  have  I  seen  fit  at  any  time  to  justify  nor  allude  to  my  participa- 
tion in  the  efforts  made  here  last  summer  to  aid  the  people  of  Ireland  in  their 
anticipated  struggle  for  Liberty  and  Independence.  I  shall  not  do  so  now. 
What  I  did  then,  in  bohalf  of  the  Irish  millions,  I  stand  ready  to  do  again, 


288  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

so  far  as  my  means  \vill  permit,  when  a  similar  opportunity,  with  a  like  pros- 
pect of  success,  is  presented — and  not  for  them  only,  but  for  any  equally  op- 
pressed and  suffering  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  If  any  '  extortion  and 
plunder'  were  contrived  and  perpetrated  in  the  meetings  for  Ireland  at 
Vauxhall  last  season,  I  am  wholly  unconscious  of  it,  though  I  ought  to  be  as 
well  informed  as  to  the  alleged  '  extortion  and  plunder'  as  most  others,  whether 
my  information  were  obtained  in  the  character  of  conspirator  or  that  of  vic- 
tim. I  feel  impelled,  however,  by  the  expressions  employed  in  Mr.  Brooks's 
card,  to  state  that  I  have  found  nothing  like  an  inclination  to  '  extortion  and 
plunder'  in  the  councils  of  the  leading  friends  of  Ireland  in  this  city,  and  no- 
thing like  a  suspicion  of  such  baseness  among  the  thousands  who  sustained  and 
cheered  them  in  their  efforts.  All  the  suspicions  and  imputations  to  which 
those  have  been  subjected,  who  freely  gave  their  money  and  their  exer^ 
tions  in  aid  of  the  generous  though  ineffectual  effort  for  Ireland's  liberation, 
have  originated  with  those  who  never  gave  that  cause  a  prayer  or  a  shilling) 

and  have  not  yet  traveled  beyond  them. 

"  Respecttully, 

i,  "  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

"New  York,  Nov.  8,  1848." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


THKEE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS* 

ills  objects  as  a  Member  of  Congress— His  first  acts— The  Chaplain  hypocrisy— The 
Laud  Reform  Bill — Distributing  the  Documents — Offers  a  novel  Resolution — The 
Mileage  Expose— Congressional  delays— Explosion  in  the  House— Mr.  Turner's  ora- 
tion— Mr.  Greeley  defends  himself— The  Walker  Tariff— Congress  in  a  pet— Speech 
at  the  Printers'  Festival— The  House  in  good  humor — Traveling  dead-head — Per- 
sonal explanations — A  dry  hawl — The  amendment  game — Congressional  dignity — 
Battle  of  the  books— The  Recruiting  System— The  last  night  of  the  Session— The 
*  usual  gratuity'— The  Inauguration  Ball— Farewell  to  his  constituents. 

IN  the  composition  of  this  work,  I  have,,  as  a  rule,  abstained  from 
the  impertinence  of  panegyric,  and  most  of  the  few  sentences  of 
an  applausive  nature  which  escaped  my  pen  were  promptly  erased 
on  the  first  perusal  of  the  passages  which  they  disfigured.  Of  a 
good  action,  the  simplest  narrative  is  the  best  panegyric ;  of  a  bad 
action,  the  best  justification  is  the  whole  truth  about  it.  Therefore, 


£ 


xry  J 

A  t>-  ^  I 


ffiS    OBJECTS    AS    A    MEMBER    OF    CONGRESS.  289 

though  Horace  Greeley's  career  in  Congress  is  that  part  of  his  life 
which  I  regard  with  unmingled  admiration,  and  though  the  conduct 
of  his  enemies  during  that  period  fills  me  with  inexpressible  disgust, 
I  shall  present  here  little  more  than  a  catalogue  of  his  acts  and  en- 
deavors while  he  held  a  place  in  the  National  bear-garden. 

He  seems  to  have  kept  two  objects  in  view,  during  those  three 
turbulent  and  exciting  months :  1,  to  do  his  duty  as  a  Representative 
of  the  People;  2,  to  let  the  people  know  exactly  and  fully  what 
manner  of  place  the  House  of  Representatives  is,  by  what  methods 
their  business  is  kept  from  being  done,  and  under  what  pretexts 
their  money  is  plundered.  The  first  of  these  objects  kept  him  con- 
stantly in  his  place  on  the  floor  of  the  House.  The  second  he  ac- 
complished by  daily  letters  to  the  Tribune,  written,  not  at  his  desk 
in  the  House,  but  in  his  room  before  and  after  each  day's  hubbub. 
It  will  be  convenient  to  arrange  this  chapter  in  the  form  of  a  jour- 
nal. 

Dec.  4th.  This  was  Monday,  the  first  day  of  the  session.  Horace 
Greeley  '  took  the  oaths  and  his  seat.' 

Dec.  5th.  He  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  bring  in  a  bill  to 
•discourage  speculation  in  the  public  lands,  and  establish  homesteads 
upon  the  same. 

Dec.  6th.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Tribune,  in  which  he  gave 
his  first  impressions  of  the  House,  and  used  some  plain  English. 
He  spoke  strongly  upon  the  dishonesty  of  members  drawing  pay 
and  yet  not  giving  attendance  at  the  early  sessions,  though  the 
House  had  a  hundred  bills  ready  for  conclusive  action,  and  every 
day  lost  at  the  outset  insures  the  defeat  of  ten  bills  at  the  close. 
As  a  specimen  of  the  plain  English,  take  this  : 

"  On  the  third  day,  the  Senate  did  not  even  succeed  in  forming  a  quorum  ; 
out  of  fifty-seven  or  eight  members,  who  are  all  sure  to  be  in  for  their  pay 
and  mileage,  only  twenty-nine  appeared  in  their  seats  ;  and  the  annual  hy- 
pocrisy of  electing  a  chaplain  had  to  go  over  and  waste  another  day.  If  either 
House  had  a  chaplain  who  dare  preach  to  its  members  what  they  ought  to  hear 
— of  their  faithlessness,  their  neglect  of  duty,  their  iniquitous  waste  of  time, 
and  robbery  of  the  public  by  taking  from  the  treasury  money  which  they  have 
not  even  attempted  to  earn — then  there  would  be  some  sense  in  the  chaplain 
business  ;  but  any  ill-bred  Nathan  or  Elijah  who  should  undertake  such  a  job 

13 


290  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

would  be  kicked  out  in  short  order.  So  the  chaplaincy  remains  a  thing  of 
grimace  and  mummery,  nicely  calculated  to  help  some  flockless  and  complai- 
sant shepherd  to  a  few  hundred  dollars,  and  impose  on  devout  simpletons  an 
exalted  notion  of  the  piety  of  Congress.  Should  not  the  truth  be  spoken  ? 

******** 

"  But  in  truth  the  great  sorrow  is,  that  so  many  of  the  Members  of  Con- 
gress, as  of  men  in  high  station  elsewhere,  are  merely  dexterous  jugglers,  or 
the  tools  of  dexterous  jugglers,  with  the  cup  and  balls  of  politics,  shuffled  into 
responsible  places  as  a  reward  for  past  compliances,  or  in  the  hope  of  being 
there  made  useful  to  the  inventors  and  patentees  of  their  intellectual  and 
moral  greatness.  To  such  men,  the  idea  of  anybody's  coming  to  Congress  for 
anything  else  than  the  distinction  and  the  plunder,  unless  it  be  in  the  hope  of 
intriguing  their  way  up  to  some  still  lazier  and  more  lucrative  post,  is  so  irre- 
sistibly comic — such  an  exhibition  of  jolly  greenness,  that  they  cannot  contem- 
plate it  without  danger  of  explosion." 

Dec.  \%ih.  Mr.  Greeley  introduced  the  Land  Eeform  bill,  of 
which  he  had  given  notice.  It  provided : 

1.  That  any  citizen,  and  any  alien  who  had  declared  his  intention 
of  becoming  a  citizen,  may  file  a  pre-emption  claim  to  160  acres  of 
Public  Land,  settle  upon  it,  improve  it,  and  have  the  privilege  of 
buying  it  at  any  time  within  seven  years  of  filing  the  claim,  at  the 
Government  price  of  $1  25  per  acre :  provided,  that  he  is  not  the 
owner  or  claimant  of  any  other  real  estate. 

2.  That  the  Land  office  where  a  claim  is  filed,  shall  issue  a  War- 
rant of  Pre-emption,  securing  the  claimant  in  seven  years'  possess- 
ion. 

8.  That,  after  five  years'  occupancy,  a  warrant-holder  who  makes 
oath  of  his  intention  to  reside  on  and  cultivate  his  land  for  life  shall 
become  the  owner  of  any  forty  acres  of  his  claim  which  he  may 
select;  the  head  of  a  family  eighty  acres. 

4.  That  the  price  of  public  lands,  when  not  sold  to  actual  settlers, 
shall  be  five  dollars  per  acre. 

5.  That  false  affidavits,  made  to  procure  land  under  the  provisions 
of  this  bill,  shall  be  punished  by  three  years'  hard  labor  in  a  State 
prison,  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  and  by  the  loss  of  the  land 
fraudulently  obtained. 

Dec.  16th.  The  following  notice  appeared  in  the  Tribune: 

"  In  reference  to  many  requests  for  copies  of  the  President's  Message  and 


OFFERS  A  NOVEL  RESOLUTION.  201 

accompanying  Documents,  I  desire  to  state  that  such  Message  and  Documents 
are  expected  to  cover  twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  printed  octavo  pages,  and 
to  include  three  maps,  the  engraving  of  which  will  probably  delay  the  publi- 
cation for  two  or  three  weeks  yet.  I  shall  distribute  my  share  of  them  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  make  them  go  as  far  as  they  will ;  but  I  cannot  satisfy  half 
the  demands  upon  me.  As  each  Senator  will  have  nearly  two  hundred  copies, 
while  Representatives  have  but  about  sixty  each,  applications  to  Senators, 
especially  from  the  smaller  States,  are  obviously  the  most  promising." 

Dec.  18th.  Mr.  Greeley  offered  the  following  resolution  in  the 
House : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  be  requested  to  inquire  into 
and  report  upon  the  expediency  and  feasibility  of  temporarily  employing  the 
whole  or  a  portion  of  our  national  vessels,  now  on  the  Pacific  station,  in  the 
transportation,  at  moderate  rates,  of  American  citizens  and  their  effects  from 
Panama  and  the  Mexican  ports  on  the  Pacific  to  San  Francisco  in  California." 

This  was  the  year  of  the  gold  fever.  The  fate  of  the  above  reso- 
lution may  be  given  in  its  proposer's  own  words 

"Monday,"  he  wrote,  "was  expressly  a  resolution  day;  and  (the  order 
commencing  at  Ohio)  it  was  about  2  o'clock  before  New  York  was  called,  and 
I  had  a  chance  to  offer  the  foregoing.  It  was  received,  but  could  not  be  acted 
on  except  by  unanimous  consent  (which  was  refused)  until  it  shall  have  laid 
over  one  day — when  of  course  it  will  never  be  reached  again.  When  the 
States  had  been  called  through,  I  rose  and  asked  the  House  to  consider  the 
above  as  modified  so  as  to  have  the  inquiry  made  by  its  own  Naval  Commit- 
tee instead  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy — thus  bringing  its  immediate  consid- 
eration within  the  rules.  No  use — two  or  three  on  the  other  side  sang  out 
1  Object,'  '  Object,'  and  the  resolution  went  over — as  all  resolutions  which  any 
member  indicates  a  purpose  to  debate  must  do.  So  the  resolution  cannot  be 
reached  again  this  Session." 

Dec.  ISth.  Mr.  Greeley  made  what  the  reporters  styled  'a  plain 
and  forcible  speech,'  on  the  tariff,  in  which  he  animadverted  upon 
a  passage  of  the  Message,  wherein  the  President  had  alluded  to 
manufacturers  as  an  '  aristocratic  class,  and  one  that  claimed  exclu- 
sive privileges.'  Mr.  Greeley  walked  into  the  President. 

Dsc.  22<Z.  On  this  day  appeared  in  the  Tribune,  the  famous 
Congressional  Mileage  Expose.  The  history  of  this  expose  is 
briefly  related  by  Mr.  Greeley,  in  the  Whig  Almanac  for  1850. 


£92  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

u  Early  in  December,  I  called  on  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  for  some  money  oft 
account,  he  being  paymaster  of  the  House.  The  Schedule  used  by  that  officer 
was  placed  before  me,  showing  the  amount  of  mileage  respectively  accorded 
to  every  member  of  the  House.  Many  of  these  amounts  struck  me  as  ex* 
cessive,  and  I  tried  to  recollect  if  any  publication  of  all  the  allowances  in  a 
like  case  had  ever  been  made  through  the  journals,  but  could  not  remember 
any  such  publicity.  On  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that  the  amounts  were  regu- 
larly published  in  a  certain  document  entitled  '  The  Public  Accounts,'  of  which 
no  considerable  number  was  printed,  and  which  was  obviously  not  intended 
for  popular  distribution.  [It  is  even  omitted  in  this  document  for  the  year 
1848,  printed  since  I  published  my  expose,  so  that  I  can  now  find  it  in  no  pub- 
lic document  whatever.]  I  could  not  remember  that  I  had  ever  seen  a  copy, 
though  one  had  been  obtained  and  used  by  my  assistant  in  making  up  last 
year's  Almanac.  It  seemed  to  me,  therefore,  desirable  that  the  facts  should 
be  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public,  and  I  resolved  that  it  should  be 
done. 

"  But  how  1  To  have  picked  out  a  few  of  what  seemed  to  me  the  most  fla- 
grant cases  of  overcharge,  and  print  these  alone,  would  be  to  invite  and  secure 
the  reputation  of  partiality,  partisanship,  and  personal  animosity.  No  other 
course  seemed  so  fair  as  to  print  the  mileage  of  each  member,  with  necessary 
elucidations.  I  accordingly  employed  an  ex-clerk  in  one  of  the  departments, 
and  instructed  him  to  make  out  a  tabular  expose  as  follows  : 

"  1.  Name  of  each  member  of  the  House  ; 

"  2.  Actual  distance  from  his  residence  to  Washington  by  the  shortest  post- 
route  ; 

"  3.  Distance  for  which  he  is  allowed  and  paid  mileage ; 

"  4.  Amount  of  mileage  received  by  him  ; 

"  5.  Excess  of  mileage  so  received  over  what  would  have  been  if  the  dis- 
tance had  been  computed  by  the  shortest  or  most  direct  mail-route. 

"  The  expose  was  made  out  accordingly,  and  promptly  forwarded  to  the  Tri- 
bune, in  which  it  appeared." 

In  the  remarks  which  introduced  the  tabular  statement,  Mr. 
Greeley  expressly  and  pointedly  laid  the  blame  of  the  enormous  ex- 
cess to  the  law.  -"Let  no  man,"  he  said  "jump  at  the  conclusion 
that  this  excess  has  been  charged  and  received  contrary  to  law. 
The  fact  is  otherwise.  The  members  are  all  honorable  men — if  any 
irreverent  infidel  should  doubt  it,  we  can  silence  him  by  referring 
to  the  prefix  to  their  names  in  the  newspapers,  and  we  presume 
each  has  charged  just  what  the  law  allows  him.  That  law  ex- 
pressly says  that  each  shall  receive  eight  dollars  for  every  twenty 
miles  travelled  in  coming  to  and  returning  from  Congress,  '  by  the 


THE  MILEAGE  EXPOSE.  293 

usually  traveled  route ;'  and  of  course  if  the  route  usually  traveled 
from  California  to  "Washington  is  around  Cape  Horn,  or  the  mem- 
bers from  that  embryo  State  shall  choose  to  think  it  is — they  will 
each  be  entitled  to  charge  some  $12,000  mileage  per  session,  accord- 
ly.  We  assume  that  each  has  charged  precisely  what  the  law  al- 
lows him,  and  thereupon  we  press  home  the  question — "  Ought  not 
THAT  LAW  to  be  amended .?" 

It  appeared  from  the  statement,  that  the  whole  number  of  "  cir- 
cuitous miles"  charged  was  183031,  which,  at  forty  cents  a  mile, 
amounted  to  $73,492  60.  With  about  twelve  exceptions,  it  showed 
that  every  member  of  the  Senate  and  House  had  drawn  more  mile- 
age than  he  ought  to  have  been  legally  entitled  to,  the  excess  vary- 
ing in  amount  from  less  than  two  dollars  to  more  than  a  thousand 
dollars.  Viewed  merely  as  a  piece  of  editorship,  this  mileage  ex- 
pose was  the  best  hit  ever  maPde  by  a  New  York  paper.  The  effect 
of  it  upon  the  town  was  immediate  and  immense.  It  flew  upon 
the  wings  of  the  country  press,  and  became,  in  a  few  days,  the 
talk  of  the  nation.  Its  effect  upon  Congress,  and  upon  the  subse- 
quent congressional  career  of  its  author,  we  shall  see  in  a  moment. 

Dec.  23$.  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Tribune,  in  which 
he  explained  the  manoeuvring  by  which  Congress,  though  it  can- 
not legally  adjourn  over  for  more  than  three  consecutive  days, 
generally  contrives  to  be  idle  during  the  whole  of  the  Christmas 
holidays  ;  i.  e.  from  a  day  or  two  before  Christmas,  to  a  day  or  two 
after  New  Year's.  "I  was  warned,"  he  wrote,  "when  going  to 
Baltimore  last  evening,  that  I  might  as  well  keep  on  to  New  York, 
as  nothing  would  be  done  till  some  time  in  January.  But  I  came 
back,  determined  to  see  at  least  how  it  was  done."  It  was  '  done' 
by  making  two  bites  at  the  cherry,  adjourning  first  from  Saturday 
to  Wednesday;  and,  after  a  little  show  of  work  on  Wednesday, 
Thursday  and  Friday,  adjourning  again  till  after  New  Year's  day. 
Mr.  Greeley  spoke  in  opposition  to  the  adjournment,  and  demanded 
the  yeas  and  nays ;  but  they  were  refused,  and  the  first  bite  was 
consummated.  "  The  old  soldiers"  of  the  House  were  too  much  for 
him,  he  said ;  but  he  took  care  to  print  the  names  of  those  who 
voted  for  the  adjournment. 

Dec.  2^  tit.     To-day  the  pent-up  rage  of  Congress  at  the  Mileage 


294  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

Expose,  which  had  been  fermenting  for  three  days,  burst  forth ;  and 
the  gentleman  who  knocked  out  the  bung,  so  to  speak,  was  no  other 
than  Mr.  Sawyer,  of  Ohio,  Mr.  Sausage  Sawyer  of  the  Tribune. 
Mr.  Sawyer  was  l  down'  in  the  Expose  for  an  excess  of  $281  60, 
and  he  rose  to  a  '  question  of  privilege.'  A  long  and  angry  de- 
bate ensued,  first  upon  the  question  whether  the  Expose  could  be 
debated  at  all ;  and  secondly,  if  it  could,  what  should  be  done  about 
it.  It  was  decided,  after  much  struggle  and  turmoil,  that  it  was  a 
proper  subject  of  discussion,  and  Mr.  Turner,  of  Illinois,  whose  excess 
amounted  to  the  interesting  sum  of  $998  40,  moved  a  series  of 
resolutions,  of  which  the  following  was  the  most  important : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  publication  made  in  the  New  York  Tribune  on  the 
day  of  December,  1848,  in  which  the  mileage  of  members  is  set  forth  acd 
commented  on,  be  referred  to  a  Committee,  with  instructions  to  inquire 
into  and  report  whether  said  publication  does  not  amount,  in  substance,  to  an 
allegation  of  fraud  against  most  of  the  members  of  this  House  in  this  matter 
of  their  mileage ;  and  if,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Committee,  it  does  amount  to 
an  allegation  of  fraud,  then  to  inquire  into  it,  and  report  whether  that  allega- 
tion is  true  or  false." 

The  speech  by  which  Mr.  Turner  introduced  his  resolutions  was 
not  conceived  in  the  most  amiable  spirit,  nor  delivered  with  that 
lofty  composure  which,  it  is  supposed,  should  characterize  the  elo- 
cution of  a  legislator.  These  sentences  from  it  will  suffice  for  a 
specimen : 

"  He  now  wished  to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  particularly  to  these 
charges  made  by  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  most,  if  not  all,  of  which 
charges  he  intended  to  show  were  absolutely  false  ;  and  that  the  individual 
who  made  them  had  either  been  actuated  by  the  low,  groveling,  base,  and 
malignant  desire  to  represent  the  Congress  of  the  nation  in  a  false  and  un- 
enviable light  before  the  country  and  the  world,  or  that  he  had  been  actuated 
by  motives  still  more  base — by  the  desire  of  acquiring  an  ephemeral  notoriety, 
by  blazoning  forth  to  the  world  what  the  writer  attempted  to  show  was  fraud. 
The  whole  article  abounded  in  gross  errors  and  wilfully  false  statements,  and 
was  evidently  prompted  by  motives  as  base,  unprincipled  and  corrupt  as  ever 
actuated  an  individual  in  wielding  his  pen  for  the  public  press. 

******** 

"  Perhaps  the  gentleman  (he  begged  pardon),  or  rather  the  individual,  per- 
haps the  thing,  that  penned  that  article  was  not  aware  that  his  (Mr.  T  's)  por- 
tion of  the  country  was  not  cut  up  by  railroads  and  traveled  by  stage-coaches 


EXPLOSION   IN    THE    HOUSE.  295 

and  other  direct  means  of  public  conveyance,  like  the  omnibuses  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  between  all  points  ;  they  had  no  other  channel  of  communication 
except  the  mighty  lakes  or  the  rivers  of  the  West;  he  could  not  get  here  in 
ony  other  way.  The  law  on  the  subject,  of  Mileage  authorized  the  members 
to  charge  upon  the  most  direct  usually-traveled  route.  Now,  he  ventured  th- 
assertion  that  there  was  not  an  individual  in  his  District  who  ever  came  t« 
this  city,  or  to  any  of  the  North-eastern  cities,  who  did  not  cotne  by  the  way 
of  the  lakes  or  the  rivers. 

********* 
"  He  did  not  know  but  he  was  engaged  in  a  very  small  business.  A  gentle- 
man near  him  suggested  that  the  writer  of  this  article  would  not  be  believed 
anyhow  ;  that,  therefore,  it  was  no  slander.  But  his  constituent?,  living  two 
or  three  thousand  miles  distant,  might  not  be  aware  of  the  facts,  and  therefore 
it  was  that  he  had  deemed  it  necessary  to  repel  the  slanderous  charges  and 
imputations  of  fraud,  so  far  as  they  concerned  him." 

Other  honorable  gentlemen  followed,  and  discoursed  eloquent  dis- 
cord in  a  similar  strain.  Mr.  Greeley  sat  with  unruffled  composure 
and  heard  himself  vilified  for  some  hours  without  attempting  to 
reply.  At  length,  in  a  pause  of  the  storm,  he  arose  and  gave  no- 
tice, that  when  the  resolutions  were  disposed  of  he  should  rise  to  a 
privileged  question.  The  following  sprightly  conversation  ensued: 

"  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Indiana,  moved  that  the  resolutions  be  laid  on  the  table. 

"  The  Yeas  and  Nays  were  asked  and  ordered  ;  and,  being  taken,  were — 
Yeas  28,  Nays  128. 

"  And  the  question  recurring  on  the  demand  for  the  previous  question  : 

"Mr.  Fries  inquired  of  the  Speaker  whether  the  question  was  susceptible 
of  division. 

"The  Speaker  said  that  the  question  could  be  taken  separately  on  each  res- 
olution. 

"A  number  of  members  here  requested  Mr.  Evans  to  withdraw  the  demand 
for  the  previous  question  (i.  e.  permit  Mr.  Greeley  to  speak). 

"  Mr.  Evans  declined  to  withdraw  the  motion,  and  desired  to  state  the  rea- 
son why  he  did  so.  The  reason  was,  that  the  gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr. 
Greeley]  had  spoken  to  an  audience  to  which  the  members  of  this  House  could 
not  speak.  If  the  gentleman  wished  to  assail  any  member  of  this  House,  let 
him  do  so  here. 

':  The  Speaker  interposed,  and  was  imperfectly  heard,  but  was  understood 
to  say  that  it  was  out  of  order  to  refer  personally  to  gentlemen  on  this  floor. 

"  Mr.  Evans  said  he  would  refer  to  the  editor  of  the  Tribune,  and  he  insist- 
ed that  the  gentleman  was  not  entitled  to  reply. 

["  Loud  cries  from  all  parts  of  the  House,  '  Let  him  speak,'  with  mingling 
dissent.] 


^96  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  demand  for  the  previous  question. 

"But  the  House  refused  to  second  it. 

"  Mr.  Greeley,  after  alluding  to  the  comments  that  had  been  made  upon  the 
article  in  the  Tribune  relative  to  the  subject  of  Mileage,  and  the  abuse  which 
had  notoriously  been  practiced  relating  to  it,  said  he  had  heard  no  gentleman 
quote  one  word  in  that  article  imputing  an  illegal  charge  to  any  member  of 
this  House,  imputing  anything  but  a  legal,  proper  charge.  The  whole  ground 
of  the  argument  was  this  :  Ought  not  the  law  to  be  changed?  Ought  not  the 
mileage  to  be  settled  by  the  nearest  route,  instead  of  what  was  called  the 
usually-traveled  route,  which  authorized  a  gentleman  coming  from  the  center 
of  Ohio  to  go  around  by  Sandusky,  Albany,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore,  and  to  charge  mileage  upon  that  route.  He  did  not  object  to  any 
gentleman's  taking  that  course  if  he  saw  fit ;  but  was  that  the  route  upon 
which  the  mileage  ought  to  be  computed  ? 

"  Mr.  Turner  interposed,  and  inquired  if  the  gentleman  wrote  that  article  1 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied  that  the  introduction  to  the  article  on  mileage  was  writ- 
ten by  himself;  the  transcript  from  the  books  of  this  House  and  from  the  ac- 
counts of  the  Senate  was  made  by  a  reporter,  at  his  direction.  That  reporter, 
who  was  formerly  a  clerk  in  the  Post-Office  Department,  [Mr.  Douglass  How- 
ard,] had  taken  the  latest  book  in  the  Department,  which  contained  the  dis- 
tances of  the  several  post-offices  in  the  country  from  Washington ;  and  from 
that  book  he  had  got — honestly,  he  knew,  though  it  might  not  have  been  en- 
tirely accurate  in  an  instance  or  two — the  official  list  of  the  distances  of  the 
several  post-offices  from  this  city.  In  every  case,  the  post-office  of  the  mem- 
ber, whether  of  the  Senate  or  the  House,  had  been  looked  out,  his  distance  as 
charged  set  down,  then  the  post-office  book  referred  to,  and  the  actual,  honesb 
distance  by  the  shortest  route  set  down  opposite,  and  then  the  computation 
made  how  much  the  charge  was  an  excess,  not  of  legal  mileage,  but  of  what 
would  be  legal,  if  the  mileage  was  computed  by  the  nearest  mail  route. 

"  Mr.  King,  of  Georgia,  desired,  at  this  point  of  the  gentleman's  remarks, 
to  say  a  word  ;  the  gentleman  said  that  the  members  charged ;  now,  he  (Mr. 
K.)  desired  to  say,  with  reference  to  himself,  that  from  the  firstr  he  had  always 
refused  to  give  any  information  to  the  Committee  on  Mileage  with  respect  to 
the  mileage  to  which  he  would  be  entitled.  He  had  told  them  it  was  their 
spscial  duty  to  settle  the  matter ;  that  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
He,  therefore,  had  charged  nothing. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  (continuing)  said  he  thought  all  this  showed  the  necessity  of 
a  new  rule  on  the  subject,  for  here  they  saw  members  shirking  off,  shrinking 
from  the  responsibility,  and  throwing  it  from  one  place  to  another.  Nobody 
made  up  the  account,  but  somehow  an  excess  of  $60,000  or  $70.000  was 
charged  in  the  accounts  for  mileage,  and  was  paid  from  the  Treasury. 

"Mr.  King  interrupted,  and  asked  if  he  meant  to  charge  him  (Mr.  K )  with 
shirking  7  Was  that  the  gentleman's  remark  1 


MR.  GREELEY    DEFENDS    HIMSELF.  297 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied,  that  he  only  said  that  by  some  means  or  other,  this 
excess  of  mileage  was  charged,  and  was  paid  by  the  Treasury.  This  money 
ought  to  be  saved.  The  same  rule  ought  to  be  applied  to  members  of  Con- 
gress that  was  applied  to  other  persons. 

"  Mr.  King  desired  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  New  York  if  he  had  correctly 
understood  his  language,  for  he  had  heard  him  indistinctly  7  He  (Mr.  K.) 
had  made  the  positive  statement  that  he  had  never  had  anything  to  do  with 
reference  to  the  charge  of  his  mileage,  and  he  had  understood  the  gentleman 
from  New  York  to  speak  of  shirking  from  responsibility.  He  desired  to  know 
if  the  gentleman  applied  that  term  to  him  1 

"  Mr.  Greeley  said  he  had  applied  it  to  no  member. 

"  Mr.  King  asked,  why  make  use  of  this  term,  then  ? 

"  Mr.  Greeley's  reply  to  this  interrogatory  was  lost  in  the  confusion  which 
prevailed  in  consequence  of  members  leaving  their  seats  and  coming  forward 
to  the  area  in  the  center. 

"The  Speaker  called  the  House  to  order,  and  requested  gentlemen  to  take 
their  seats. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  proceeded.  There  was  no  intimation  in  the  article  that  any 
member  had  made  out  his  own  account,  but  somehow  or  other  the  accounts  had 
been  so  made  up  as  to  make  a  total  excess  of  some  860,000  or  870,000,  charge- 
able upon  the  Treasury.  The  general  facts  had  been  stated,  to  show  that  the 
law  ought  to  be  different,  and  there  were  several  cases  cited  to  show  how  the 
law  worked  badly ;  for  instance,  from  one  district  in  Ohio,  the  member  for- 
merly charged  for  four  hundred  miles,  when  he  came  on  his  own  horse  all  the 
way ;  but  now  the  member  from  the  same  district  received  mileage  for  some 
eight  or  nine  hundred  miles.  Now,  ought  that  to  be  so?  The  whole  argu- 
ment turned  on  this  ;  now,  the  distances  were  traveled  much  easier  than  for- 
merly, and  yet  more,  in  many  cases  much  more,  mileage  was  charged.  The 
gentleman  from  Ohio  who  commenced  this  discussion,  had  made  the  point  that 
there  was  some  defect,  some  miscalculation  in  the  estimate  of  distances.  He 
could  not  help  it ;  they  had  taken  the  post-office  books,  and  relied  on  them, 
and  if  any  member  of  the  press  had  picked  out  a  few  members  of  this  House, 
and  held  up  their  charges  for  mileage,  it  would  have  been  considered  invidious. 

"  Mr.  Turner  called  the  attention  of  the  member  from  New  York  to  the  fact 
that  the  Postmaster  General  himself  had  thrown  aside  that  Post  Office  book, 
in  consequence  of  its  incorrectness.  He  asked  the  gentleman  if  he  did  not 
know  that  fact  ? 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied  that  the  article  itself  stated  that  the  Department  did 
not  charge  mileage  upon  that  book.  Every  possible  excuse  and  mitigation 
had  been  given  in  the  article  ;  but  he  appealed  to  the  House — they  were  the 
masters  of  the  law — why  would  they  not  change  it,  and  make  it  more  just  and 
equal  ? 

"  Mr.  Sawyer  wished  to  be  allowed  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  New  York  a 

13* 


298  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS* 

question.  His  complaint  was  that  the  article  had  done  him  injustice,  by  set- 
ting him  down  as  some  300  miles  nearer  the  seat  of  Government  than  his  col- 
league [Mr.  Schenck],  although  his  colleague  had  stated  before  the  House  that 
he  [Mr.  Sawyer]  resided  some  60  or  70  miles  further. 

"  Now,  he  wanted  to  know  why  the  gentleman  had  made  this  calculation 
against  him,  and  in  favor  of  his  colleague  7 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied  that  he  begged  to  assure  the  gentleman  from  Ohio 
that  he  did  not  think  he  had  ever  been  in  his  thoughts  from  the  day  he 
had  come  here  until  the  present  day  ;  but  he  had  taken  the  figures  from  the 
Post  Office  book,  as  transcribed  by  a  former  Clerk  in  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment." 

After  much  more  sparring  of  the  same  description,  the  resolu- 
tions were  adopted,  the  Committee  was  appointed,  the  House  ad- 
journed, and  Mr.  Greeley  went  home  and  wrote  a  somewhat  face- 
tious account  of  the  day's  proceedings.  The  most  remarkable  sen- 
tence in  that  letter  was  this  : 

"  It  was  but  yesterday  tluit  a  Senator  said  to  me  that  though  he  was  utterly 
opposed  to  any  reduction  of  Mileage,  yet  if  the  House  did  not  stop  passing 
Retrenchment  bills  for  Buncombe,  and  then  running  to  the  Senate  and  beg- 
ging Senators  to  stop  them  there,  he,  for  one,  would  vote  to  put  through  the 
next  Mileage  Reduction  bill  that  came  to  the  Senate,  just  to  punish  Members 
for  their  hypocrisy." 

Jan.  2nd.  Mr.  Greeley  offered  a  resolution  calling  on  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  to  communicate  to  the  House  the  advantages 
resulting  from  the  imposition  hy  the  Tariff  of  1846  of  duties  of  5 
and  10  per  cent,  on  certain  manufactures  of  wool  and  hemp,  more 
than  was  imposed  on  the  raw  material,  and  if  they  were  not  advan- 
tageous, then  to  state  what  action  was  required. 

Jan.  3rd.    The  resolution  came  up. 

"  Mr.  Wentworth  objected  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  being  called 
upon  for  such  information.  If  the  gentleman  from  New  York  would  apply  to 
him  [Mr.  W.],  he  would  give  him  his  reasons,  but  he  objected  to  this  reference 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table,  but  with- 
drew it  at  the  request  of— 

"  Mr.  Greeley,  who  said  it  was  well  known  that  the  Tariff  of  1846  waa 
prepared  by  the  Secretary ;  he  had  been  its  eulogist  and  defender,  and  he 
now  wished  for  his  views  on  the  particular  points  specified.  He  had  un- 
officially more  than  thirty  times  called  on  the  defenders  of  the  Tariff  of  1846 


CONGRESS   IN   A   PET.  299 

to  explain  these  things,  but  had  never  been  able  to  get  one,  and  now  he  wanted 
to  go  to  headquarters. 

"  Mr.  Wentworth  was  not  satified  with  this  at  all,  and  asked  why  the  gentle- 
man from  New  York  did  not  call  on  him.  He  was  ready  to  give  him  any  in- 
formation he  had. 

"  Mr.  Greeley — That  call  is  not  in  order.     [A  laugh.] 

"  Mr.  W. — But  he  objected  to  the  passage  of  a  resolution  imputing  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  dictated  a  Tariff  bill  to  the  House. 

"  Mr.  Washington  Hunt — Does  not  the  gentleman  from  Illinois  know  that 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  called  upon  the  Secretary  for  a  Tariff,  and 
that  he  prepared  and  transmitted  this  Tariff  to  them'? 

"  Mr.  Wentworth — I  do  not  know  anything  about  it. 

"  Mr.  Hunt — Well,  the  gentleman's  ignorance  is  remarkable,  for  it  was  very 
generally  known. 

"  Mr.  Wentworth  renewed  his  motion  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table, 
on  which  the  Ayes  and  Noes  were  demanded,  and  resulted  Ayes  86,  Noes  87." 

Jan.  4th.  Congress,  to-day,  showed  its  spite  at  the  mileage  ex- 
pose in  a  truly  extraordinary  manner.  At  the  last  session  of  this 
very  Congress  the  mileage  of  the  Messengers  appointed  by  the  Elec- 
toral Colleges  to  bear  their  respective  votes  for  President  and  Vice 
President  to  Washington,  had  been  reduced  to  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  per  mile  each  way.  But  now  it  was  perceived  by  members 
that  either  the  mileage  of  the  Messengers  must  be  restored  or  their 
own  reduced.  "  Accordingly,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters, "a  joint  resolution  was  promptly  submitted  to  the  Senate, 
doubling  the  mileage  of  Messengers,  and  it  went  through  that  ex- 
alted body  very  quickly  and  easily.  I  had  not  noticed  that  it  had 
been  definitively  acted  on  at  all  until  it  made  its  appearance  in  the 
House  to-day,  and  was  driven  through  with  indecent  rapidity  well 
befitting  its  character.  No  Committee  was  allowed  to  examine  it, 
no  opportunity  was  afforded  to  discuss  it,  but  by  whip  and  spur, 
Previous  Question  and  brute  force  of  numbers,  it  was  rushed  through 
the  necessary  stages,  and  sent  to  the  President  for  his  sanction." 

The  injustice  of  this  impudent  measure  is  apparent  from  the  fact, 
that  on  the  reduced  scale  of  compensation,  messengers  received  from 
ten  to  twenty  dollars  a  day  during  the  period  of  their  necessary  ab- 
sence from  home.  '-'  The  messenger  from  Maine,  for  instance,  brings 
the  vote  of  his  State  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles,  and  need 
not  be  more  than  eight  days  absent  from  his  business,  at  an  expense 


300  THREE    MONTHS    IN    CONGRESS. 

certainly  not  exceeding  $60, in  all.     The  reduced  compensate. ...  was 
$148  75,  paying  his  expenses  and  giving  him  $11  per  day  ov«tf, ' 

Jan.  7th.  The  Printers'  Festival  was  held  this  evening  ai  "Wash- 
ington, and  Mr.  Greeley  attended  it,  and  made  a  speech.  His  re- 
marks were  designed  to  show,  that  "  the  interests  of  tradesmen 
generally,  but  especially  of  the  printing  and  publishing  trade,  includ- 
ing authors  and  editors,  was  intimately  involved  in  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  high  rates  of  compensation  for  labor  in 
all  departments  of  industry.  It  is  of  vital  interest  to  us  all  that  the 
entire  community  shall  be  buyers  of  books  and  subscribers  to  jour- 
nals, which  they  cannot  be  unless  their  earnings  are  sufficient  to 
supply  generously  their  physical  wants  and  leave  some  surplus  for 
intellectual  aliment.  We  ought,  therefore,  as  a  class,  from  regard 
to  our  own  interests,  if  from  no  higher  motive,  to  combine  to  keep 
up  higher  rates  of  compensation  in  our  own  business,  and  to  favor 
every  movement  in  behalf  of  such  rates  in  other  callings." 

He  concluded  by  offering  a  sentiment : 

"  The  Lightning  qf  Intelligence — Now  crashing  ancient  tyrannies  and  top- 
pling down  thrones — May  it  swiftly  irradiate  the  world." 

Jan.  9th.  The  second  debate  on  the  subject  of  Mileage  occurred 
to-day.  It  arose  thus  : 

The  following  item  being  under  consideration,  viz. :  "  For  Com- 
pensation and  Mileage  of  Senators,  Members  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, and  Delegates,  $768,200,"  Mr.  Embree  moved  to  amend 
it  by  adding  thereto  the  following :  "  Provided,  That  the  Mileage 
of  Members  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  shall  hereafter  be  estimated 
and  charged  upon  the  shortest  mail-route  from  their  places  of  resi- 
dence, respectively,  to  the  city  of  Washington." 

The  debate  which  ensued  was  long  and  animated,  but  wholly 
different  in  tone  and  manner  from  that  of  the  previous  week. 
Strange  to  relate,  the  Expose  found,  on  this  occasion,  stanch  de- 
fenders, and  the  House  was  in  excellent  humor.  The  reader,  if  he 
feels  curious  to  know  the  secret  of  this  happy  change,  may  find  it, 
I  think,  in  that  part  of  a  speech  delivered  in  the  course  of  the  de- 
bate, where  the  orator  said,  that  "  he  had  not  seen  a  single  news- 
paper of  the  country  which  did  not  approve  of  the  course  which 


TRAVELLING   DEAD-HEAD  301 

the  gentleman  from  New  York  had  taken  ;  and  he  believed  there 
was  no  instance  where  the  Editor  of  a  paper  had  spoken  out  the 
genuine  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  made  any  expression  of  dis- 
approbation in  regard  to  the  eifort  of  the  gentleman  from  New  York 
to  limit  this  unjustifiable  taxation  of  Milage." 

The  debate  relapsed,  at  length,  into  a  merry  conversation  on  the 
subject  of  traveling  '  dead-heads."1 

"  Mr.  Murphy  said,  when  he  came  on,  he  left  New  York  at  5  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  arrived  at  Philadelphia  to  supper  ;  and  then  entering  the  car 
again,  he  slept  very  comfortably,  and  was  here  in  the  morning  at  8  o'clock. 
He  lost  no  time.  The  mileage  was  ninety  dollars. 

"  Mr.  Root  would  inquire  of  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  whether  ho 
took  his  passage  and  came  on  as  what  the  agents  sometimes  call  a  '  dead- 
head ?'  [Laughter.] 

"  Mr.  Murphy  replied  (amid  considerable  merriment  and  laughter)  that  he 
did  not  know  of  more  than  one  member  belonging  to  the  New  York  delegation 
to  whom  that  application  could  properly  attach. 

"  Mr.  Root  said,  although  his  friend  from  New  York  was  tolerably  expert 
in  everything  he  treated  of,  yet  he  might  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
term  he  had  used.  He  would  inform  him  that  the  term  '  dead-head,'  was  ap- 
plied by  the  steamboat  gentlemen  to  passengers  who  were  allowed  to  travel 
without  paying  their  fare.  [A  great  deal  of  merriment  prevailed  throughout 
the  hall,  upon  this  allusion,  as  it  manifestly  referred  to  the  two  editors,  the 
gentleman  from  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Levin,  and  the  gentleman  from  New  York, 
Mr.  Greeley.]  But  Mr.  R.  (continuing  to  speak)  said  he  was  opposed  to  all 
personalities.  He  never  indulged  in  any  such  thing  himself,  and  he  never 
would  favor  such  indulgence  on  the  part  of  other  gentlemen. 

"  Mr.  Levin.     I  want  merely  to  say — 

"  Mr.  Root.     I  am  afraid— 

["  The  confusion  of  voices  and  merriment  which  followed,  completely 
drowned  the  few  words  of  pleasant  explanation  delivered  here  by  Mr.  Levin.] 

"  Mr.  Greeley  addressed  the  chair. 

"  The  Chairman.  The  gentleman  from  New  York  will  suspend  his  remarks 
till  the  Committee  shall  come  to  order. 

"  Order  being  restored — 

"  Mr.  Greeley  said  he  did  not  pretend  to  know  what  the  editor  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia Sun,  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Levin],  had  done.  But 
if  any  gentleman,  anxious  about  the  matter,  would  inquire  at  the  railroad 
offices  in  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  he  would  there  be  informed  that  he  (Mr. 
G.)  never  had  passed  over  any  portion  of  either  of  those  roads  free  of  charge 
— never  in  the  world.  One  of  the  gentlemen  interested  had  once  told  him  he 
might,  but  he  never  had. 


802  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

"  Mr.  Embree  next  obtained  the  floor,  but  gave  way  for 

"  Mr.  Haralson,  who  moved  that  the  Committee  rise. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  appealed  to  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Haralson]  to 
withhold  his  motion,  while  he  might,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  gentleman  from 
Indiana  [Mr.  Embree j,  make  a  brief  reply  to  the  allusions  which  had  been 
made  to  him  and  his  course  upon  this  subject.  He  asked  only  for  five  minutes. 
But 

"  Mr.  Haralson  adhered  to  his  motion,  which  was  agreed  to. 

"  So  the  Committee  rose  and  reported,  '  No  conclusion.' " 

Jan.  10th.  The  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was  the 
subject  of  discussion,  and  the  part  which  Mr.  Greeley  took  in  it,  he 
thus  described : 

"  SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE  DISTRICT. 


In  Defence  of  Mr.  GotVs  Resolution,  (suppressed?) 

["Throughout  the  whole  discussion  of  Wednesday,  Mr.  Greeley  struggled 
at  every  opportunity  for  the  floor,  and  at  first  was  awarded  it,  but  the  speaker, 
on  reflection,  decided  that  it  belonged  to  Mr.  Wentworth  of  111.,  who  had  made 
a  previous  motion.  Had  Mr.  G.  obtained  the  floor  at  any  time,  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  have  spoken  substantially  as  follows — the  first  paragraph  being  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Sawyer's  speech,  and  of  course  only  meditated  after  that  speech 
was  delivered."] 

Then  follows  the  speech,  which  was  short,  eloquent,  and  con- 
vincing. 

Jan.  llth.  The  third  debate  on  the  mileage  question.  Mr.  Gree- 
ley, who  "  had  been  for  three  days  struggling  for  the  floor,"  ob- 
tained it,  and  spoke  in  defence  of  his  course.  For  two  highly  auto- 
biographical paragraphs  of  his  speech,  room  must  be  found  in  these 
pages : 

"  The  gentleman  saw  fit  to  speak  of  my  vocation  as  an  editor,  and  to  charge 
me  with  editing  my  paper  from  my  seat  on  this  floor.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  one  member  in  this  Hall  who  has  written  less  in  his  seat 
this  session  than  I  have  done.  I  have  been  too  ranch  absorbed  in  the  (to  me) 
novel  and  exciting  scenes  around  me  to  write,  and  have  written  no  editorial 
here.  Time  enough  for  that,  Sir,  before  and  after  your  daily  sessions.  But 
the  gentleman  either  directly  charged  or  plainly  insinuated  that  I  have  neg- 


PERSONAL    EXPLANATIONS.  803 

lected  my  duties  as  a  member  of  this  House  to  attend  to  my  own  private  bus- 
iness. I  meet  this  charge  with  a  positive  and  circumstantial  denial.  Except 
a  brief  sitting  one  Private  Bill  day,  I  have  not  been  absent  one  hour  in  all, 
nor  the  half  of  it,  from  the  deliberations  of  this  House.  I  have  never  voted 
for  an  early  adjournment,  nor  to  adjourn  over.  My  name  will  be  found  re- 
corded on  every  call  of  the  yeas  and  nays.  And,  as  the  gentleman  insinuated 
a  neglect  of  my  duties  as  a  member  of  a  Committee  (Public  Lands,)  I  ap- 
peal to  its  Chairman  for  proof  to  any  that  need  it,  that  I  have  never  been  ab- 
sent from  a  meeting  of  that  Committee,  nor  any  part  of  one  ;  and  that  I  have 
rather  sought  than  shunned  labor  upon  it.  And  I  am  confident  that,  alike  in 
my  seat,  and  out  of  it,  I  shall  do  as  large  a  share  of  the  work  devolving  upon 
this  House  as  the  gentleman  from  Mississippi  will  deem  desirable. 

"And  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  a  word  on  the  main  question  before  us.  I  know 
very  well — I  knew  from  the  first — what  a  low,  contemptible,  demagoguing 
business  this  of  attempting  to  save  public  money  always  is.  It  is  not  a  task 
for  gentlemen — it  is  esteemed  rather  disreputable  even  for  editors.  Your 
gentlamenly  work  is  spending — lavishing — distributing — taking.  Savings  are 
always  such  vulgar,  beggarly,  two-penny  affairs — there  is  a  sorry  and  stingy 
look  about  them  most  repugnant  to  all  gentlemanly  instincts.  And  beside, 
they  never  happen  to  hit  the  right  place — it  is  always  '  Strike  higher  !'  '  Strike 
lower  !J  To  be  generous  with  other  people's  money — generous  to  self  and 
friends  especially,  that  is  the  way  to  be  popular  and  commended.  Go  ahead, 
and  never  care  for  expense  ! — if  your  debts  become  inconvenient,  you  can  re- 
pudiate, and  blackguard  your  creditors  as  descended  from  Judas  Iscariot ! — 
Ah  !  Mr.  Chairman,  /was  not  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  gentility  !" 

Jan.  14th.  He  wrote  out  another  speech  on  a  noted  slave  case, 
which  at  that  time  was  attracting  much  attention.  This  effort  was 
entitled,  "  My  Speech  on  Pacheco  and  his  Negro."  It  was  humor- 
ous, but  it  was  a  '  settler' ;  and  it  is  a  pity  there  is  not  room  for  it 
here. 

Jan.  16th.  The  Mileage  Committee  made  their  report,  exonerat- 
ing members,  condemning  the  Expose,  and  asking  to  be  excused 
from  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

Jan.  17th.  A  running  debate  on  Mileage — many  suggestions 
made  for  the  alteration  of  the  law — nothing  done — the  proposed 
reform  substantially  defeated.  The  following  conversation  occurred 
upon  the  subject  of  Mr.  Greeley's  own  mileage.  Mr.  Greeley  tells 
the  story  himself,  heading  his  letter  '  A  Dry  Hawl.' 

"  The  House  having  resolved  itself  again  into  a  Committtce  of  the  Whole, 


304  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

and  taken  up  the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropriation  Bill,  on  which  Mr.  Murphy 
of  New  York  had  the  floor,  I  stepped  out  to  attend  to  some  business,  and  was 
rather  surprised  to  learn,  on  my  way  back  to  the  Hall,  that  Mr.  M.  was  mak- 
ing me  the  subject  of  his  remarks.  As  I  went  in,  Mr.  M.  continued — 

"  MURPHY. — As  the  gentleman  is  now  in  his  seat,  I  will  repeat  what  I  have 
stated.  I  said  that  the  gentleman  who  started  this  breeze  about  Mileage,  by 
his  publication  in  the  Tribune,  has  himself  charged  and  received  Mileage  by 
the  usual  instead  of  the  shortest  Mail  Route.  He  charges  me  with  taking 
$3  20  too  much,  yet  I  live  a  mile  further  than  he,  and  charge  but  the  same. 

"  GREELEY. — The  gentleman  is  entirely  mistaken.  Finding  my  Mileage  was 
computed  at  $184  for  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  and  seeing  that  the  short- 
est Mail  Route,  by  the  Post-Office  Book  of  1842,  made'  the  distance  but  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  I,  about  three  weeks  ago,  directed  the  Ser- 
geant-at-Arms  to  correct  his  schedule  and  make  my  Mileage  $180  for  two 
hundred  and  twenty- five  miles.  I  have  not  inquired  since,  but  presume  he  has 
done  so.  So  that  I  do  not  charge  so  much  as  the  gentleman  from  Brooklyn, 
though,  instead  of  living  nearer,  I  live  some  two  or  three  miles  further  from 
this  city  than  he  does,  or  fully  two  hundred  and  twenty -nine  miles  by  the 
shortest  Post  Route. 

"  RICHARDSON  of  Illinois. — Did  not  the  gentleman  make  out  his  own  ac- 
count at  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  ? 

"  GREELEY. — Yes,  sir,  I  did  at  first ;  but,  on  learning  that  there  was  a 
shorter  Post  Route  than  that  by  which  the  Mileage  from  our  city  had  been 
charged,  I  stepped  at  once  to  the  Sergeant's  room,  informed  him  of  the  fact, 
and  desired  the  proper  correction.  Living  four  miles  beyond  the  New  York 
Post  Office,  I  might  fairly  have  let  the  account  stand  as  it  was,  but  I  did 
not." 

Jan.  18th.  Mr.  Greeley's  own  suggestion  with  regard  to  Mile- 
age appears  in  the  Tribune  : 

"  1.  Reduce  the  Mileage  to  a  generous  but  not  extravagant  allowance  for 
the  time  and  expense  of  travelling  ; 

"  2.  Reduce  the  ordinary  or  minimum  pay  to  $5  per  day,  or  (we  prefer)  $8 
for  each  day  of  actual  service,  deducting  Sundays,  days  of  adjournment 
within  two  hours  from  the  time  of  assembling,  and  all  absences  not  caused  by 
sickness  ; 

"  3.  Whenever  a  Member  shall  have  served  six  sessions  in  either  House,  or 
both  together,  let  his  pay  thenceforward  be  increased  fifty  per  cent.,  and  after 
he  shall  have  served  twelve  years  as  aforesaid,  let  it  be  double  that  of  an  or- 
dinary or  new  Member ; 

"4.  Pay  the  Chairman  of  each  Committee,  and  all  the  Members  of  the 
three  most  important  and  laborious  Committees  of  each  House,  fifty  per  cent 


THE    AMENDMENT    GAME.  305 

above  the  ordinary  rates,  and  the  Chairmen  of  the  three  (or  more)  most  re- 
sponsible and  laborious  Committees  of  eaeh  House  (say  Ways  and  Means,  Ju- 
diciary and  Claims)  double  the  ordinary  rates  ;  the  Speaker  double  or  treble, 
as  should  be  deemed  just ; 

"  5.  Limit  the  Long  Sessions  to  four  months,  or  half-pay  thereafter." 

Jan.  20th.  Another  letter  appears  to-day,  exposing  some  of  the 
expedients  by  which  the  time  of  Congress  is  wasted,  and  the  pub- 
lic business  delayed.  The  bill  for  the  appointment  of  Private 
Claims'  Commissioners  was  before  the  House.  If  it  had  passed, 
Congress  would  have  been  relieved  of  one-third  of  its  business,  and 
the  claims  of  individuals  against  the  government  would  have  had 
a  chance  of  fair  adjustment.  But  no.  "  Amendment  was  piled  on 
amendment,  half  of  them  merely  as  excuses  for  speaking,  and  so 
were  withdrawn  as  soon  as  the  Chairman's  hammer  fell  to  cut  off  th^ 
five-minute  speech  in  full  flow.  The  first  section  was  finally  worried 
through,  and  the  second  (there  are  sixteen)  was  mouthed  over  for 
half  an  hour  or  so.  At  two  o'clock  an  amendment  was  ready  to 
be  voted  on,  tellers  were  ordered,  and  behold!  no  quorum.  The 
roll  was  called  over ;  members  came  running  in  from  the  lobbies 
and  lounging-places  ;  a  large  quorum  was  found  present ;  the  Chair- 
man reported  the  fact  to  the  Speaker,  and  the  House  relapsed  into 
Committee  again.  The  dull,  droning  business  of  proposing  amend- 
ments which  were  scarcely  heeded,  making  five-minute  speeches 
that  were  not  listened  to,  and  taking  votes  where  not  half  voted, 
and  half  of  those  who  did  were  ignorant  of  what  they  were  voting 
upon,  proceeded  some  fifteen  minutes  longer,  when  the  patriotic  for- 
titude of  the  House  gave  way,  and  a  motion  that  the  Committee 
rise  prevailed."  The  bill  has  not  yet  been  passed.  Just  claims 
clamored  in  vain  for  liquidation,  and  doubtful  ones  are  bullied  or 
manoeuvred  through. 

Jan.  ZZd.  To-day  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  covered  itself 
with  glory.  Mr.  Greeley  proposed  an  additional  section  to  the 
General  Appropriation  Bill,  to  the  effect,  that  members  should  not 
be  paid  for  attendance  when  they  did  not  attend,  unless  their  ab- 
sence was  caused  by  sickness  or  public  business,  "  At  this  very 
session,"  said  Mr.  Greeley  in  his  speech  on  this  occasion,  "members 
have  been  absent  for  weeks  together,  attending  to  their  private 


306  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

business,  while  this  Committee  is  almost  daily  broken  up  for  want 
of.  a  quorum  in  attendance.  This  is  a  gross  wrong  to  their  con- 
stituents, to  the  country,  and  to  those  members  who  remain  in  their 
seats,  and  endeavor  to  urge  forward  the  public  business." 

What  followed  is  thus  related  by  Mr.  Greeley  in  his  letter  to  the 
Tribune : 

"  Whereupon,  Hon.  Henry  C.  Murphy,  of  Brooklyn,  (it  takes  him  !)  rose  and 
moved  the  following  addition  to  the  proposed  new  section  : 

"  ( And  there  shall  also  be  deducted  for  such  time  from  the  compensation  of 
members,  who  shall  attend  the  sittings  of  the  House,  as  they  shall  be  employ- 
ed in  writing  for  newspapers.'  " 

"  No  objection  being  made,  the  House,  with  that  exquisite  sense  of  dignity 
and  propriety  which  has  characterized  its  conduct  throughout,  adopted  this 
amendment. 

"  And  then  the  whole  section  was  voted  down. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  next,  with  a  view  of  arresting  the  prodigal  habit  which  has 
grown  up  here  of  voting  a  bonus  of  $250  to  each  of  the  sub-clerks,  messen- 
gers, pages,  Ac.,  &c.,  (their  name  is  Legion)  of  both  Houses,  moved  the  fol- 
lowing new  section  : 

"  '  Sec.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  not  henceforth  be  lawful 
for  either  Houses  of  Congress  to  appropriate  and  pay  from  its  Contingent 
Fund  any  gratuity  or  extra  compensation  to  any  person  whatever;  but  every 
appropriation  of  public  money  for  gratuities  shall  be  lawful  only  when  ex- 
pressly approved  and  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Congress.' 

"  This  was  voted  down  of  course  ;  and  on  the  last  night  or  last  but  one  of 
the  session,  a  motion  will  doubtless  be  sprung  in  each  house  for  the  '  usual ' 
gratuity  to  these  already  enormously  overpaid  attendants,  and  it  will  probably 
pass,  though  I  am  informed  that  it  is  already  contrary  to  law.  But  what  of 
that?" 

Jan.  3d.  An  HONEST  MAN  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  seemed  to  be  a  foreign  element,  a  fly  in  its  cup,  an 
ingredient  that  would  not  mix,  a  novelty  that  disturbed  its  peace.  It 
struggled  hard  to  find  a  pretext  for  the  expulsion  of  the  offensive 
person ;  but  not  finding  one,  the  next  best  thing  was  to  endeavor 
to  show  the  country  that  Horace  Greeley  was,  after  all,  no  better 
than  members  of  Congress  generally.  To-day  occurred  the  cele- 
brated, yet  pitiful,  Battle  of  the  Books.  Congress,  as  every  one 
knows,  is  accustomed  annually  to  vote  each  member  a  small  library 
of  books,  consisting  of  public  documents,  reports,  statistics.  Mr. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  307 

Greeley  approved  the  appropriation  for  reasons  which  will  appear 
in  a  moment,  and  he  knew  the  measure  was  sure  to  pass  ;  yet,  un- 
willing to  give  certain  blackguards  of  the  House  a  handle  against 
him  and  against  the  reforms  with  which  he  was  identified,  he  voted 
formally  against  the  appropriation.  It  is  but  fair  to  all  concerned  in 
the  Battle,  that  an  account  of  it,  published  in  the  Congressional 
Globe,  should  be  given  here  entire,  or  nearly  so.  Accordingly, 
here  it  is : 

"In  the  House  of  Representatives  on  Tuesday,  while  the  General  Appro- 
priation Bill  was  up,  Mr.  Edwards,  of  Ohio,  offered  the  following  amendment : 

"  Be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  sums  of  money  appropriated  in  this  bill 
for  books  be  deducted  from  the  pay  of  those  members  who  voted  for  the  appro- 
priation. 

"  Mr.  Edwards,  in  explanation,  said  that  he  had  voted  in  favor  of  the  appro- 
priation, and  was  of  course  willing  that  the  amendment  should  operate  upon 
himself  precisely  as  it  would  upon  any  other  member.  He  had  no  apology  to 
make  for  the  vote  he  had  given.  He  would  send  to  the  Clerk's  table  the  New 
York  'Tribune'  of  January  18th,  and  would  request  the  Clerk  to  read  the 
paragraph  which  he  (Mr.  E.)  had  marked. 

"  The  clerk  read  the  following  : 

"  '  And  yet,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  has  been  hinted  if  not  asserted  on  this  floor  that 
I  voted  for  these  Congressional  books !  I  certainly  voted  against  them  at 
every  opportunity,  when  I  understood  the  question.  I  voted  against  agreeing 
to  that  item  of  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  in  favor  of  the  De- 
ficiency bill,  and,  the  item  prevailing,  I  voted  against  the  whole  bill.  I  tried 
to  be  against  them  at  every  opportunity.  But  it  seems  that  on  some  stand-up 
vote  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  when  I  utterly  misunderstood  what  was  the 
question  before  the  Committee,  I  voted  for  this  item.  Gentlemen  say  I  did, 
and  I  must  presume  they  are  right.  I  certainly  never  meant  to  do  so.  and  I 
did  all  in  my  power  in  the  House  to  defeat  this  appropriation.  But  it  is  com- 
mon with  me  in  incidental  and  hasty  divisions,  when  I  do  not  clearly  under- 
stand the  point  to  be  decided,  to  vote  with  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  [Mr.  Vinton,]  who  is  so  generally  right  and  who  has  spec- 
ial charge  of  appropriation  bills,  and  of  expediting  business  generally.  Thus 
only  can  I  have  voted  for  these  books,  as  on  all  other  occasions  I  certainly 
voted  against  them.' 

"  The  paragraph  having  been  read  : 

"  Mr.  Edwards  (addressing  Mr.  Greeley)  said,  I  wish  to  inquire  of  the  gen- 
tleman from  New  York,  if  I  am  in  order,  whether  that  is  his  editorial  ? 
"  Mr.  Greeley  rose. 
[Hubbub  for  some  minutes.     After  which ] 


308  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  said,  every  gentleman  here  must  remember  that  that  was 
but  the  substance  of  what  he  had  spoken  on  this  floor.  His  colleague  next 
him  [Mr.  Rumsey]  had  told  him,  that  upon  one  occasion  he  (Mr.  G.)  had  voted 
for  the  appropriation  for  books  when  he  did  not  understand  the  vote.  He  (Mr. 
G.)  had  voted  for  tellers  when  a  motion  was  made  to  pass  the  item  ;  but  by 
mistake  the  Chairman  passed  over  the  motion  for  tellers,  and  counted  him  in 
favor  of  the  item. 

"  Mr.  Edwards.  I  understand,  then,  that  the  gentleman  voted  without  un- 
derstanding what  he  was  voting  upon,  and  that  he  would  have  voted  against 
taking  the  books  had  he  not  been  mistaken. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  assented. 

"  Mr.  Edwards.  I  assert  that  that  declaration  is  unfounded  in  fact.  I  have 
the  proof  that  the  gentleman  justified  his  vote  both  before  and  after  the  voting. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  called  for  the  proof. 

"  Mr.  Edwards  said  he  held  himself  responsible,  not  elsewhere,  but  here,  to 
prove  that  the  gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr.  Greeley]  had  justified  his  vote 
in  favor  of  the  books  both  before  and  after  he  gave  that  vote,  upon  the  ground 
on  which  they  all  justified  it,  and  that  this  editorial  was  an  afterthought,  writ- 
ten because  he  [Mr.  G.]  had  been  twitted  by  certain  newspapers  with  having 
voted  for  the  books.  He  held  himself  ready  to  name  the  persons  by  whom  he 
could  prove  it. 

"  [Loud  cries  of  '  Name  them ;  name  them.'] 

"  Mr.  Edwards  (responding  to  the  repeated  invitations  which  were  addressed 
to  him)  said,  Charles  Hudson,  Dr.  Darling,  and  Mr.  Putnam. 

"[The  excitement  was  very  great,  and  there  was  much  confusion  in  all 
parts  of  the  Hall — many  members  standing  in  the  aisles,  or  crowding  forward 
to  the  area  and  the  vicinity  of  Mr.  Greeley.] 

"  Mr.  Greeley  (addressing  Mr.  Edwards).  I  say,  neither  of  these  gentlemen 
will  say  so. 

"  Mr.  Edwards.    I  hold  myself  responsible  for  the  proof.     (Addressing  Mr. 
Hudson).    Mr.  Hudson  will  come  to  the  stand.    [General  laughter.] 
******** 

"  Mr.  Greeley.  Now,  if  there  is  any  gentleman  who  will  say  that  he  has  un- 
derstood me  to  say  that  I  voted  for  it  understandingly,  I  call  upon  him  to  come 
forward. 

"  Mr.  Edwards.  The  gentleman  calls  for  the  testimony.  Mr.  Hudson  is 
the  man — Dr.  Darling  is  the  man. 

"  [Members  had  again  flocked  into  the  area.  There  were  cries  of  '  Hudson, 
Hudson,'  '  down  in  front,'  and  great  disorder  throughout  the  House.] 

"  The  Chairman  again  earnestly  called  to  order  ;  and  all  proceedings  were 
arrested  for  the  moment,  in  order  to  obtain  order. 

"  The  House  having  become  partially  stilled — 

"  Mr.  Hudson  rose  and  said  :  I  suppose  it  is  not  in  order  for  me  to  address 


BATTLE    OF   THE    BOOKS.  oOO 

the  Committee ;  but,  as  I  have  been  called  upon,  if  there  is  no  objection,  1 
have  no  objection  on  my  part,  to  state  what  I  have  heard  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  [Mr.  Greeley]  say. 

"  [Cries  from  all  quarters,  'Hear  him,  hear  him.'] 

"  The  Chairman.    If  there  is  no  objection  the  gentleman  can  proceed. 

"  No  objection  being  made — 

"  Mr.  Hudson  said,  I  can  say,  then,  that  on  a  particular  day,  when  this 
book  resolution  had  been  before  the  House — as  it  was  before  the  House  several 
times,  I  cannot  designate  the  day — but  one  day,  when  we  had  been  passing 
upon  the  question  of  books,  in  walking  from  the  Capitol,  I  fell  in  with  my 
friend  from  New  York,  [Mr.  Greeley  ;]  that  we  conversed  from  the  Capitol 
down  on  to  the  avenue  in  relation  to  these  books ;  that  he  stated — as  I  under- 
stood him  (and  I  think  I  could  not  have  been  mistaken) — that  he  was  in  favor 
of  the  purchase  of  the  books ;  that  he  either  had  or  should  vote  for  the  books, 
and  he  stated  two  reasons  :  the  one  was,  that  some  of  these  publications  were 
of  such  a  character  that  they  would  never  be  published  unless  there  was  some 
public  patronage  held  out  to  the  publishers ;  and  the  other  reason  was,  that 
the  other  class  of  these  books  at  least  contained  important  elements  of  his- 
tory, which  would  be  lost  unless  gathered  up  and  published  soon,  and  as  the 
distribution  of  these  books  was  to  dififuse  the  information  over  the  community, 
he  was  in  favor  of  the  purchase  of  these  books ;  and  that  he  himself  had  suf- 
fered from  not  having  access  to  works  of  this  character.  That  was  the  sub- 
stance of  the  conversation. 

"  Mr.  Hudson  having  concluded — 

"  [There  were  cries  of  '  Darling,  Darling.'] 

"  Mr.  Darling  rose  and  (no  objection  being  made)  proceeded  to  say  :  On  one 
of  the  days  on  which  we  voted  for  the  books  now  in  question — the  day  that 
the  appropriation  passed  the  House — I  was  on  my  way  from  the  Capitol,  and, 
passing  down  the  steps,  I  accidentally  came  alongside  the  gentleman  from 
New  York,  [Mr.  Greeley,]  who  was  in  conversation  with  another  gentleman — 
a  member  of  the  House — whose  name  I  do  not  recollect.  I  heard  him  (Mr* 
G.)  say  he  justified  the  appropriation  for  the  books  to  the  members,  on  the 
ground  of  their  diffusing  general  information.  He  said  that  in  the  City  of 
New  York  he  knew  of  no  place  where  he  could  go  to  obtain  the  information 
contained  in  these  books  ;  that  although  it  was  supposed  that  in  that  place  the 
sources  of  information  were  much  greater  than  in  almost  any  other  portion  of 
the  country,  he  would  hardly  know  where  to  go  in  that  City  to  find  this  infor- 
mation ;  and  upon  this  ground  that  he  would  support  the  resolution  in  favor 
of  the  books.  This  conversation,  the  gentleman  will  recollect,  took  place  going 
down  from  the  west  door  of  the  Capitol  and  before  we  got  to  the  avenue.  I 
do  not  now  recollect  the  gentleman  who  was  with  the  gentleman  from  New 
York. 

"  Mr.  Putnam  rose  amid  loud  cries  of  invitation,  and  (no  objection  being 


310  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

made,)  said  :  As  my  name  has  been  referred  to  in  relation  to  this  question, 
it  is  due  perhaps  to  the  gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr.  Greeley]  that  I  should 
state  this  :  That  some  few  days  since  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Edwards] 
called  upon  me  here,  and  inquired  of  me  whether  I  had  heard  my  colleague 
[Mr.  Greeley]  say  anything  in  relation  to  his  vote  as  to  the  books.  I  that 
morning  had  received  the  paper,  and  I  referred  him  to  the  editorial  contained 
therein  which  has  been  read  by  the  Clerk  ;  but  I  have  no  recollection  of  stat- 
ing to  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  that  I  heard  my  colleague  say  he  justified  the 
vote  which  he  gave  ;  nor  have  I  any  recollection  whatever  that  I  ever  heard 
my  colleague  say  anything  upon  the  subject  after  the  vote  given  by  him. 

"The  gentleman  from  Ohio  must  have  misunderstood  me,  and  it  is  due  to 
my  colleague  that  this  explanation  should  be  made. 

"  [Several  voices  :  '  What  did  he  .«ay  before  the  vote  ?'] 

"I  have  no  recollection  [said  Mr.  P.]  that  I  ever  heard  him  say  anything. 

"  Mr.  Edwards  rose,  and  wished  to  know  if  any  of  his  five  minutes  was 
left? 

"  No  reply  was  heard  ;  but,  after  some  conversation,  (being  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed,) he  said,  I  have  stated  that  I  have  no  apologies  to  make  for  giving  this 
vote.  I  voted  for  these  books  for  the  very  reasons  which  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  [Mr.  Greeley]  gave  to  these  witnesses.  I  stated  that  I  could  prove 
by  witnesses  that  the  gentleman  has  given  reasons  of  this  kind,  and  that  that 
editorial  was  an  afterthought.  If  the  House  requires  any  more  testimony, 
it  can  be  had  ;  but  out  of  the  mouths  of  two  witnesses  he  is  condemned.  That 
is  scriptural  as  well  as  legal. 

"  I  have  not  risen  to  retaliate  for  anything  this  editor  has  said  in  reference 
to  the  subject  of  mileage.  I  have  been  classed  among  those  who  have  re- 
ceived excessive  mileage.  I  traveled  in  coming  to  Washington  forty-three 
miles  further  than  the  Committee  paid  me ;  but  I  stated  before  the  Committee 
the  reasons  why  I  made  the  change  of  route.  I  had  been  capsized  once 

"  The  Chairman  interposed,  and  said  he  felt  bound  to  arrest  this  debate. 

"  [Cries  of  '  Greeley !  Greeley !'] 

f<  Mr.  Greeley  rose 

"  The  Chairman  stated  that  it  would  not  be  in  order  for  the  gentleman  to 
address  the  House  while  there  was  no  question  pending. 

"  [Cries  of  '  Suspend  the  rules  ;  hear  him.'] 

"  Mr.  Tallmadge  rose  and  inquired  if  his  colleague  could  not  proceed  by  gen- 
eral consent  ? 

"  The  Chairman  replied  in  the  affirmative. 

"  No  objection  was  made,  and 

"  Mr.  Greeley  proceeded.  The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hud- 
son] simply  misunderstood  only  one  thing.  He  states  me  to  have  urged  the 
considerations  which  he  urged  to  me.  He  urged  these  considerations — and  I 
think  forcibly.  I  say  now,  as  I  did  the  other  day  on  the  floor  of  this  House, 


MR.  GREELEY   EXPLAINS.  311 

I  approye  of  the  appropriation  for  the  books,  provided  they  are  honestly  dis- 
posed of  according  to  the  intent  of  the  appropriation. 

"Mr.  Edwards.  Why,  then,  did  you  make  the  denial  in  the  Tribune,  and 
say  that  you  voted  against  it? 

"  Mr.  Greeley.  I  did  vote  against  it.  I  did  not  vote  for  it,  because  I  did 
not  choose  to  have  some  sort  of  gentlemen  on  this  floor  hawk  at  ine.  The 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hudson]  submitted  considerations  to  me 
of  which  I  admitted  the  force.  I  admit  them  now ;  I  admit  that  the  House 
was  justifiable  in  voting  for  this  appropriation,  for  the  reason  ably  stated  by 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means ;  and  I  think  I  was 
justifiable,  as  this  Hall  will  show,  in  not  voting  for  it.  In  no  particular  was 
there  collision  between  what  I  said  on  this  floor,  the  editorial,  and  what  I  said 
in  conversation.  The  conversation  to  which  the  gentleman  from  Wisconsin 
[Mr.  Darling]  refers  is  doubtless  the  same  of  which  the  gentleman  from  Mas- 
sachusetts [Mr.  Hudson]  has  spoken. 

"  Mr.  G.  having  concluded — 

"  On  motion  of  Mr.  Vinton,  the  Committee  rose  and  reported  the  bill  to  the 
House,  with  sundry  amendments." 

After  the  flurry  was  over,  Mr.  Greeley  went  home  and  wrote  an 
explanation  which  appeared  a  day  or  two  after  in  the  Tribune.  It 
began  thus : 

"  The  attack  upon  me  by  Dr.  Edwards  of  Ohio  to-day,  was  entire- 
ly unexpected.  I  had  never  heard  nor  suspected  that  he  cherished 
ill-will  toward  me,  or  took  exception  to  anything  I  had  said  or  done. 
I  have  spoken  with  him  almost  daily  as  a  friendly  acquaintance, 
and  only  this  morning  had  a  familiar  conference  with  him  respect- 
ing his  report  on  the  importation  of  adulterated  drugs,  which  has 
just  been  presented.  I  have  endeavored  through  the  Tribune  to 
do  justice  to  his  spirited  and  most  useful  labors  on  that  subject. 
Neither  in  word  nor  look  did  he  ever  intimate  that  he  was  offended 
with  me — not  even  this  morning.  Conceive,  then,  my  astonish- 
ment, when,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  after  the  general  appro- 
priation bill  had  been  gone  through  by  items  and  sections,  he  rose, 
and  moving  a  sham  amendment  in  order  to  obtain  the  floor,  sent 
to  the  clerk's  desk  to  be  read,  a  Tribune  containing  the  substance  of 
my  remarks  on  a  recent  occasion,  repelling  the  charge  that  I  had 
voted  for  the  Congressional  books,  and  that  having  been  read,  he 
proceeded  to  pronounce  it  false,  and  declare  that  he  had  three  wit- 


THREE    MONTHS    *N    CONGRESS, 

nesses  in  the  House  to  prove  it.     I  certainly  could  not  have  been 
more  surprised  had  he  drawn  a  pistol  and  taken  aim  at  me." 
******* 

Jan.  25th,  Mr.  Greeley  (as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  pub- 
lic lands^)  reported  a  bill  providing  for  the  reduction  of  the  price 
of  lands  bordering  on  Lake  Superior.  In  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
he  moved  to  strike  from  the  army  appropriation  bill  the  item  of 
$38,000  for  the  recruiting  service,  sustaining  his  amendment  by 
an  elaborate  speech  on  the  recruiting  system.  Rejected.  Mr.  Gree- 
ley moved,  later  in  the  day,  that  the  mileage  of  officers  be  calcu- 
lated by  the  shortest  route.  Rejected.  The  most  striking  pass- 
age of  the  speech  on  the  recruiting  system  was  this : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  of  all  the  iniquities  and  rascalities  committed  in  our  coun- 
try, I  think  those  perpetrated  in  this  business  of  recruiting  are  among  the 
most  flagrant.  I  doubt  whether  this  government  punishes  as  many  frauds  in 
all  as  it  incites  by  maintaining  this  system  of  recruiting.  I  have  seen  some- 
thing of  it,  and  been  by  hearsay  made  acquainted  with  much  more.  A  sim- 
ple, poor  man,  somewhat  addicted  to  drinking,  awakes  from  a  drunken  revel 
in  which  he  has  disgraced  himself  by  some  outrage,  or  inflicted  some  injury,  or 
has  squandered  means  essential  to  the  support  of  his  family.  He  is  ashamed 
to  enter  his  home — ashamed  to  meet  the  friends  who  have  known  him  a  re- 
spectable and  sober  man.  At  this  moment  of  half  insanity  and  utter  horror, 
the  tempter  besets  him,  portrays  the  joys  of  a  soldier's  life  in  the  most  glow- 
ing and  seductive  colors,  and  persuades  him  to  enlist.  Doubtless  men  have 
often  been  made  drunk  on  purpose  to  delude  them  into  an  enlistment ;  for  there 
is  (or  lately  was)  a  bounty  paid  to  whoever  will  bring  in  an  acceptable  re- 
cruit to  the  station.  All  manner  of  false  inducements  are  constantly  held  out 
— absurd  hopes  of  promotion  and  glory  are  incited,  and,  when  not  in  his  right 
mind,  the  dupe  is  fastened  for  a  term  which  will  probably  outlast  his  life. 
Very  soon  he  repents  and  begs  to  be  released — his  distracted  wife  pleads — his 
famishing  children  implore — but  all  in  vain.  Shylock  must  have  his  bond, 
and  the  husband  and  father  is  torn  away  from  them  for  years— probably  for 
ever.  This  whole  business  of  recruiting  is  a  systematic  robbery  of  husbands 
from  their  wives,  fathers  from  their  children,  and  sons  from  their  widowed  and 
dependent  mothers.  It  is  not  possible  that  a  Christian  people  have  any  need 
of  such  a  fabric  of  iniquity,  and  I  call  upon  this  House  to  unite  in  decreeing 
its  abolition." 

Jan.  31st.  In  Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  naval  appropriation 
bill  being  under  consideration,  Mr.  Greeley  offered  an  amendment 


THE   LAST    NIGHT    OF    THE    SESSION.  313 

Deducing  the  list  of  warrant  officers.     Kejected.     He  also  spoke  for 
abolishing  the  grog  system. 

Feb.  1st.  Mr.  Greeley  made  a  motion  to  the  effect,  that  no  offi- 
cer of  the  navy  should  be  promoted,  as  long  as  there  were  otners 
of  the  higher  rank  unemployed.  Rejected. 

Feb  14:th.     Mr.  Greeley  submitted  the  following  resolution  : 

'"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  instructed  to  inquire 
whether  there  be  anything  in  our  laws  or  authoritative  Judicial  decisions 
Xvhich  countenances  the  British  doctrine  of  {  Once  a  subject  always  a  subject,' 
and  to  report  what  action  of  'Congress,  if  any,  be  necessary  to  conform  the 
laws  and  decisions  aforesaid,  consistently  and  thoroughly  to  the  American  doc- 
trine, affirming  the  right  of  every  man  to  migrate  from  his  native  land  to 
some  other,  and,  in  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  latter,  to  renounce  all  allegi- 
ance and  responsibility  to  the  former." 

Objected  to.  The  resolution,  was  therefore,  according- to  the 
rule,  withdrawn. 

Feb.  26th.  A  proposal  having  been  made  that  the  New  Mexico 
and  Texas  Boundary  -Question  be  referred  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
Mr.  Greeley  objected,  on  the  ground  that  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  that  Court  were  slaveholders. 

Feb.  27th.  The  Committee  to  whom  had  been  referred  Mr.  Gree- 
ley's  Land  Reform  Bill,  asked  leave  to  be  relieved  from  the  further 
consideration  of  the  subject.  Mr.  Greeley  demanded  the  yeas  and 
nays.  Refused.  A  motion  was  made  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table, 
which  was  carried,  the  yeas  and  nays  being  again  refused.  In  the 
debates  on  the  organization  of  the  new  territories,  California,  etc., 
Mr.  Greeley  took  a  spirited  part. 

March  4th.  The  last  night  of  the  session  had  arrived.  It  was 
Saturday.  The  appropriation  bills  were  not  yet  passed.  The  bill 
for  the  organization  of  the  new  territories,  acquired  by  the  Mexican 
war,  had  still  to  be  acted  upon.  It  was  a  night  of  struggle,  tur- 
moil, and  violence,  though  the  interests  of  future  empires  were  con- 
cerned in  its  deliberations.  A  few  sentences  from  Mr.  Greeley's  own 
narrative  will  give  an  idea  of  the  scene : 

14 


314  THREE    MONTHS    IN    CONGRESS. 

"  The  House  met  after  recess  at  six— the  seats  soon  filled,  the  lobbies  and 
galleries  densely  crowded. 

***** 

"  Members  struggled  in  wild  tumult  for  the  floor. 
***** 

"  A  vehement  yell  of  '  Mr.  Speaker !'  rose  from  the  scores  who  jumped  on 
the  instant  for  the  floor. 

******** 

"  Here  the  effect  of  the  Previous  Question  was  exhausted,  and  the  wild  rush 
of  half  the  House  for  the  floor — the  universal  yell  of  (  Mr.  Speaker  !'  was  re- 
newed. 

******** 

"  The  House,  still  intensely  excited,  proceeded  very  irregularly  to  other 
business — mainly  because  they  must  await  the  Senate's  action  on  the  Thom- 
son substitute. 

******** 

"  At  length— after  weary  watching  till  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when 
even  garrulity  had  exhausted  itself  with  talking  on  all  manner  of  frivolous 
pretexts,  and  relapsed  into  grateful  silence — when  profligacy  had  been  satiated 
with  rascally  votes  of  the  public  money  in  gratuities  to  almost  everybody  con- 
nected with  Congress,  &c.,  &c., — word  came  that  the  Senate  had  receded  alto- 
gether from  its  Walker  amendment  and  everything  of  the  sort,  agreeing  to  the 
bill  as  an  Appropriation  Bill  simply,  and  killing  the  House  amendment  by 
surrendering  its  own.  Close  on  its  heels  came  the  Senate's  concurrence  in  the 
House  bill  extending  the  Revenue  Laws  to  California  ;  and  a  message  -was  sent 
with  both  bills  to  rouse  Mr.  Polk  (still  President  by  sufferance)  from  his  first 
slumbers  at  the  Irving  House  (whither  he  had  retired  from  the  Capitol  some 
hours  before),  and  procure  his  signature  to  the  two  bills.  In  due  time — though 
it  seemed  very  long  now  that  it  was  broad  daylight  and  the  excitement  was 
subsiding — word  was  returned  that  the  President  had  signed  the  bills  and  had 
nothing  further  to  offer,  a  message  having  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  the 
House  was  ready  to  adjourn  ;  Mr.  Winthrop  made  an  eloquent  and  affecting 
address  on  relinquishing  the  Chair ;  and  the  House,  a  little  before  seven 
o'clock  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  this  blessed  Sunday  morning — twice  blessed 
after  a  cloudy  week  of  fog  and  mist,  snow  and  rain  without,  and  of  fierce  con- 
tention and  angry  discord  within  the  Capitol — adjourned  sine  die. 

"  The  Senate,  I  understand,  has  not  yet  adjourned,  but  the  latter  end  of  it 
had  gathered  in  a  bundle  about  the  Vice- President's  chair,  and  was  still  pass- 
ing extra  gratuities  to  everybody — and  if  the  bottom  is  not  out  of  the  Treas- 
ury, may  be  doing  so  yet  for  aught  I  know.  Having  seen  enough  of  this,  I 
did  not  go  over  to  their  chamber,  but  came  wearily  away." 

March  5th.     One  more  glimpse  ought  to  be  given  at  the  House 


THE    "USUAL    GRATUITY."  3J5 

% 

during  that  last  night  of  the  session.  Mr.  Greeley  explains  the 
methods,  the  infamous  tricks,  by  which  the  '  usual'  extra  allowance 
to  the  employes  of  the  House  is  manoeuvred  through. 

"  Let  me,"  lie  wrote,  <(  explain  the  origin  of  this  '  usual'  iniquity.  I  am 
informed  that  it  commenced  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  earlier  of  the  Long 
Sessions  now  unhappily  almost  biennial.  It  was  then  urged,  with  some  plau- 
sibility, that  a  number  (perhaps  half)  of  the  sub-officers  and  employes  of  the 
House  were  paid  a  fixed  sum  for  the  session — that,  having  now  been  obliged 
to  labor  an  unusually  long  term,  they  were  justly  entitled  to  additional  pay. 
The  Treasury  was  full — the  expectants  were  assiduous  and  seductive — the 
Members  were  generous — (it  is  so  easy  for  most  men  to  be  flush  with  other 
people's  money) — and  the  resolution  passed.  Next  session  the  precedent  was 
pleaded,  although  the  reason  for  it  utterly  failed,  and  the  resolution  slipped 
through  again — I  never  saw  how  till  last  night.  Thenceforward  the  thing 
went  easier  and  easier,  until  the  disease  has  become  chronic,  and  only  to  be 
cured  by  the  most  determined  surgery. 

"  Late  last  night — or  rather  early  this  morning — while  the  House  was 
awaiting  the  final  action  of  the  Senate  on  the  Territorial  collision — a  fresh  at- 
tempt was  made  to  get  in  the  '  usual  extra  allowance'  again.  Being  objected 
to  and  not  in  order,  a  direct  attempt  was  made  to  suspend  the  Rules,  (I  think 
I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  my  recollection,)  and  defeated — not  two-thirds  rising 
in  its  favor,  although  the  free  liquor  and  trimmings  provided  by  the  expect- 
ants of  the  bounty  had  for  hours  stood  open  to  all  comers  in  a  convenient  side- 
room,  and  a  great  many  had  already  taken  too  much.  In  this  dilemma  the 
motion  was  revamped  into  one  to  suspend  the  Rules  to  admit  a  resolution  to 
pay  the  Chaplain  his  usual  compensation  for  the  Session's  service,  and  I  was 
personally  and  urgently  entreated  not  to  resist  this,  and  thus  leave  the  Chap- 
lain utterly  unpaid.  I  did  resist  it,  however,  not  believing  it  true  that  no  pro- 
vision had  till  this  hour  been  made  for  paying  the  Chaplain,  and  suspecting 
some  swindle  lay  behind  it.  The  appeal  was  more  successful  with  others,  and 
the  House  suspended  its  Rules  to  admit  this  Chaplain-paying  resolution,  out 
of  order.  The  moment  this  was  done  a  motion  was  made  to  amend  the  reso- 
lution by  providing  another  allowance  for  somebody  or  other,  and  upon  this 
was  piled  still  another  amendment — 'Monsieur  Tonson  come  again' — to  pay 
1  the  usual  extra  compensation'  to  the  sub-Clerks,  Messengers,  Pages,  etc.,  etc, 
As  soon  as  this  amendment  was  reached  for  consideration — in  fact  as  soon  as  I 
could  get  the  floor  to  do  it — I  raised  the  point  of  order  that  it  could  not  be  in 
order,  when  the  rules  had  been  suspended  for  a  particular  purpose,  to  let  in, 
under  cover  of  that  suspension,  an  entirely  different  proposition,  for  which,  by 
itself,  it  was  notorious  that  a  suspension  could  not  be  obtained.  This  waa 
promptly  overruled,  the  Ayes  and  Noes  on  the  amendment  refused — ditto  on 
the  Resolution  as  amended — and  the  whole  crowded  through  under  the  Previous 


316  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

Question  in  less  than  no  time.  Monroe  Edwards  would  have  admired  the  dex- 
terity and  celerity  of  the  performance.  All  that  could  be  obtained  was  a  vote 
by  Tellers,  and  ninety-four  voted  in  favor  to  twenty-two  against — a  bare  quo- 
rum in  all,  a  great  many  being  then  in  the  Senate — none,  I  believe,  at  that 
moment  in  the  '  extra'  refectory.  But  had  no  such  refectory  been  opened  in 
either  end  of  the  Capitol,  I  believe  the  personal  collisions  which  disgraced  the 
Nation  through  its  Ptepresentatives  would  not  have  occurred.  I  shall  not 
speak  further  of  them — I  would  not  mention  them  at  all  if  they  were  not  un- 
happily notorious  already." 

March  6th.  Mr.  Greeley  was  one  of  the  three  thousand  persons 
who  attended  the  Inauguration  ball,  which  he  describes  as  "a 
sweaty,  seething,  sweltering  jam,  a  crowd  of  duped  foregatherers 
from  all  creation." 

"  I  went,"  he  says,  "  to  see  the  new  President,  who  had  not  before  come 
within  my  contracted  range  of  vision,  and  to  mark  the  reception  accorded  to 
him  by  the  assembled  thousands.  I  came  to  gaze  on  stately  heads,  not  nimble 
feet,  and  for  an  hour  have  been  content  to  gaze  on  the  flitting  phantasmagoria 
of  senatorial  brows  and  epauletted  shoulders — of  orators  and  brunettes,  office- 
seekers  and  beauties.  I  have  had  '  something  too  much  of  this,'  and  lo  !  '  the 
hour  of  hours'  has  come — the  buzz  of  expectation  subsides  into  a  murmur  of 
satisfaction — the  new  President  is  descending  the  grand  stairway  which  ter- 
minates in  the  ball-room,  and  the  human  mass  forms  in  two  deep  columns  to 
receive  him.  Between  these,  General  Taylor,  supported  on  either  hand,  walks 
through  the  long  saloon  and  back  through  other  like  columns,  bowing  and 
greeting  with  kind  familiarity  those  on  this  side  and  on  that,  paying  especial 
attention  to  the  ladies  as  is  fit,  and  everywhere  welcomed  in  turn  with  the  most 
cordial  good  wishes.  All  wish  him  well  in  his  new  and  arduous  position,  even 
those  who  struggled  hardest  to  prevent  his  reaching  it. 

"  But,  as  at  the  Inauguration,  there  is  the  least  possible  enthusiasm.  Now 
and  then  a  cheer  is  attempted,  but  the  result  is  so  nearly  a  failure  that  the 
daring  leader  in  the  exploit  is  among  the  first  to  laugh  at  the  miscarriage. 
There  is  not  a  bit  of  heart  in  it. 

"  '  They  don't  seem  to  cheer  with  much  unction,'  I  remarked  to  a  Taylor 
original. 

"  '  Ne-e-o,  they  don't  cheer  much,'  he  as  faintly  replied ;  'there  is  a  good 
deal  of  doubt  as  to  the  decorum  of  cheering  at  a  social  ball.' 

"  True  enough  :  the  possibility  of  indecorum  was  sufficient  to  check  the  im- 
pulse to  cheer,  and  very  few  passed  the  barrier.  The  cheers  '  stuck  in  the 
throat,'  like  Macbeth's  Amen,  and  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  were  well 
cared  for. 

"  Brit  just  imagine  Old  Hal  walking  down  that  staircase,  the  just  inaugu- 


FAREWELL    TO    HIS    CONSTITUENTS.  317 

rated  President  of  the  United  States,  into  the  midst  of  three  thousand  of  the 
elite  of  the  beauty  and  chivalry  of  the  Whig  party,  and  think  how  the  rafters 
•would  have  quivered  with  the  universal  acclamation.  Just  think  of  some  one 
stopping  to  consider  whether  it  might  not  be  indecorous  to  cheer  on  such  an 
occasion  !  What  a  solitary  hermit  that  considerer  would  be  ! 

******** 
"  Let  those  who  will,  flatter  the  chief  dispenser  of  Executive  patronage,  dis- 
covering in  e*ery  act  and  feature  some  resemblance  to  Washington — I  am 
content  to  wait,  and  watch,  and  hope.  I  burn  no  incense  on  his  altar,  attach 
no  flattering  epithets  to  his  name.  I  turn  from  this  imposing  pageant,  so  rich 
in  glitter,  so  poor  in  feeling,  to  think  of  him  who  should  have  been  the  central 
figure  of  this  grand  panorama — the  distant,  the  powerless,  the  unforgotten — 
'  behind  the  mountains,  but  not  setting' — the  eloquent  champion  of  Liberty  in 
both  hemispheres — whose  voice  thrilled  the  hearts  of  the  uprising,  the  long- 
trampled  sons  of  Leonidas  and  Xenophon — whose  appeals  for  South  American 
independence  were  read  to  the  hostilely  mustered  squadrons  of  Bolivar,  and 
nerved  them  to  sweep  from  this  fair  continent  the  myrmidons  of  Spanish  op- 
pression. My  heart  is  with  him  in  his  far  southern  abiding-place — with  him, 
the  early  advocate  of  African  Emancipation,  the  life-long  champion  of  a  diver- 
sified Home  Industry ;  of  Internal  Improvement ;  and  not  less  glorious  in 
his  later  years  as  the  stern  reprover  of  the  fatal  spirit  of  conquest  and  aggress- 
ion. Let  the  exulting  thousands  quaff  their  red  wines  at  the  revel  to  the  vic- 
tor of  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  while  wit  points  the  sentiment  with  an 
epigram,  and  beauty  crowns  it  with  her  smiles  :  more  grateful  to  me  the  still- 
ness of  my  lonely  chamber,  this  cup  of  crystal  water  in  which  I  honor  the 
cherished  memory  with  the  old,  familiar  aspiration — 

« Here  'a  to  you,  Harry  Clay  ! » » 

March  Qth.  Mr.  Greeley  has  returned  to  New  York.  To-day  he 
took  leave  of  his  constituents  in  a  long  letter  published  in  the  Tri- 
bune, in  which  he  reviewed  the  proceedings  of  the  late  session, 
characterized  it  as  a  Failure,  and  declined  to  take  to  himself  any 
part  of  the  blame  thereof.  These  were  his  concluding  words  : 

"My  work  as  your  servant  is  done — whether  well  or  ill  it  remains  for  you 
to  judge.  Very  likely  I  gave  the  wrong  vote  on  some  of  the  difficult  and 
complicated  questions  to  which  I  was  called  to  respond  Ay  or  No  with  hardly 
a  moment's  warning.  If  so,  you  can  detect  and  condemn  the  error  ;  for  my 
name  stands  recorded  in  the  divisions  by  Yeas  and  Nays  on  every  public 
and  all  but  one  private  bill;  (which  was  laid  on  the  table  the  moment  the 
sitting  opened,  and  on  which  my  name  had  just  been  passed  as  I  entered  the 
Hall.)  I  wish  it  were  the  usage  among  us  to  publish  less  of  speeches  and 


318  THREE  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

more  of  propositions  and  votes  thereupon — it  would  give  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple a  much  clearer  insight  into  the  management  of  their  public  affairs  My 
successor  being  already  chosen  and  commissioned,  I  shall  hardly  be  suspected 
of  seeking  your  further  kindness,  and  I  shall  be  heartily  rejoiced  if  he 
shall  be  able  to  combine  equal  zeal  in  your  service  with  greater  efficiency — 
equal  fearlessness  with  greater  popularity.  That  I  have  been  somewhat 
annoyed  at  times  by  some  of  the  consequences  of  my  Mileage  Expose  is 
true,  but  I  have  never  wished  to  recall  it,  nor  have  I  felt  that  I  owed  an 
apology  to  any,  and  I  am  quite  confident,  that  if  you  had  sent  to  Washington 
(as  you  doubtless  might  have  done)  a  more  sternly  honest  and  fearless  Rep- 
resentative, he  would  have  made  himself  more  unpopular  with  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  House  than  I  did.  I  thank  you  heartily  for  the  glimpse  of  public 
life  which  your  favor  has  afforded  me,  and  hope  to  render  it  useful  hence- 
forth not  to  myself  only  but  to  the  public.  In  ceasing  to  be  your  agent,  and 
returning  with  renewed  zest  to  my  private  cares  and  duties,  I  have  a  single 
additional  favor  to  ask,  not  of  you  especially,  but  of  all ;  and  I  am  sure  my 
friends  at  least  will  grant  it  without  hesitation.  It  is  that  you  and  they  will 
oblige  me  henceforth  by  remembering  that  my  name  is  simply 

"  HORACE    GREELEY." 

And  thus  ended  Horace  Greeley's  three  months  in  Congress.  No 
man  ever  served  his  country  more  faithfully.  No  man  ever  received 
less  reward.  One  would  have  supposed,  that  such  a  manly  and 
brave  endeavor  to  economize  the  public  money  and  the  public  time, 
such  singular  devotion  to  the  public  interests  in  the  face  of  opposi- 
tion, obloquy,  insult,  would  have  elicited  from  the  whole  country, 
or  at  least  from  many  parts  of  it,  cordial  expressions  of  approval. 
It  did  not,  however.  With  no  applauding  shouts  was  Horace 
Greeley  welcomed  on  his  return  from  the  Seat  of  Corruption.  No 
enthusiastic  mass- meetings  of  his  constituents  passed  a  series  of 
resolutions,  approving  his  course.  He  has  not  been  named  for  re- 
election. Do  the  people,  then,  generally  feel  that  an  Honest  Man 
is  out  of  place  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ? 

Only  from  the  little  town  of  Forth  Fairfield,  Ohio,  came  a  hearty 
cry  of  WELL  DONE  !  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  that  place  was 
held  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  their  sense  of  his  gallant  and 
honorable  conduct.  He  responded  to  their  applauding  resolutions 
in  a  characteristic  letter.  "Let  me  beg  of  you,"  said  he,  "to  think 
little  of  Persons,  in  this  connection,  and  much  of  Measures.  Should 
any  see  fit  to  tell  you  that  I  am  dishonest,  or  ambitious,  or  hollow- 


ASSOCIATION    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE.  319 

hearted  in  this  matter,  don't  stop  to  contradict  or  confute  him,  but 
press  on  his  attention  the  main  question  respecting  the  honesty  of 
these  crooked  charges.  It  is  with  these  the  public  is  concerned, 
and  not  this  or  that  man's  motives.  Calling  me  a  hypocrite  or 
demagogue  cannot  make  a  charge  of  $1,664  for  coming  to  Congress 
from  Illinois  and  going  back  again  an  honest  one." 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

ASSOCIATION  IN  THE  TRIBUNE   OFFICE. 

41 

Accessions  to  the  corps— The  course  of  the  Tribune— Horace  Greeley  in  Ohio— The 
Rochester  knockings— The  mediums  at  Mr.  Greeley's  house— Jenny  Lind  goes  to 
see  them — Her  behavior — Woman's  Rights  Convention — The  Tribune  Association 
— The  hireling  system. 

BUT  the  Tribune  held  on  its  strong,  triumphant  way.  Circula- 
tion, ever  on  the  increase ;  advertisements,  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
six  columns  daily  ;  supplements,  three,  four,  and  five  times  a  week ; 
price  increased  to  a  shilling  a  week  without  loss  of  subscribers ; 
Europeon  reputation  extending;  correspondence  more  and  more 
able  and  various  ;  editorials  more  and  more  elaborate  and  telling  ; 
new  ink  infused  into  the  Tribune's  swelling  veins.  What  with  the 
supplements  and  the  thickness  of  the  paper,  the  volumes  of  1849 
and  1850  are  of  dimensions  most  huge.  We  must  look  through 
them,  notwithstanding,  turning  over  the  broad  black  leaves  swiftly, 
pausing  seldom,  lingering  never. 

The  letter  R.  attached  to  the  literary  notices  apprises  us  that 
early  in  1849,  Mr.  George  Ripley  began  to  lend  the  Tribune  the 
aid  of  his  various  learning  and  considerate  pen.  Bayard  Taylor,  re- 
turned from  viewing  Europe  a-foot,  is  now  one  of  the  Tribune 
corps,  and  this  year  he  goes  to  California,  and  '  opens  up  '  the  land 
of  gold  to  the  view  of  all  the  world,  by  writing  a  series  of  letters, 
graphic  and  glowing.  Mr.  Dana  comes  home  and  resumes  his  place 
in  the  office  as  manager-general  and  second-in-command.  During 


320  ASSOCIATION   IN   THE    TRIBUNE    OYFICE. 

the  disgraceful  period  of  Ee-action,  William  Henry  Fry,  now  the 
Tribune's  sledge-hammer,  and  the  country's  sham-demolisher,  then 
an  American  in  Paris,  sent  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  Tribune  many 
a  letter  of  savage  protest.  Mr,  G.  G.  Foster  served  up  New  York 
in  savory  '•slices*  and  dainty  'items.'  Horace  Greeley  confined 
himself  less  to  the  office  than  before ;  but  whether  he  went  on  a 
tour  of  observation,  or  of  lecturing,  or  of  political  agitation,  he 
brought  all  he  saw,  heard  and  thought,  to  bear  in  enhancing  the  in- 
terest and  value  of  his  paper. 

In  1849,  the  Tribune,  true  to  its  instinct  of  giving  hospitality  to- 
every  new  or  revived  idea,  afforded  Proudhon  a  full  hearing  in  re- 
views, essays  and  biography.  His  maxim,  PBOPEETY  is  ROBBEEY,  a 
inaxim  felt  to  be  true,  and  acted  upon  by  the  early  Christians  who 
had  all  things  in  common,  furnished  a  superior  text  to  the  conserva- 
tive papers  and  pulpits.  As  usual,  the  Tribune  was  accused  of  utter- 
ing  those  benign  words,  not  of  publishing  them  merely.  On  the  oc- 
casion of  the  Astor-Place  riotT  the  Tribune  supported  the  authorities, 
and  wrote  much  for  law  and  order.  In  the  Hungarian  war,  the  ed- 
itors of  the  Tribune  took  an  intense  interestT  and  Mr.  Greeley  tried 
hard  to  condense  some  of  the  prevalent  enthusiasm  into  substantial 
help  for  the  cause.  He  thought  that  embroidered  flags  and  parch- 
ment addresses  were  not  exactly  the  commodities  of  which  Kossuth 
stood  most  in  need,  and  he  proposed  the  raising  of  a  patriotic  loan, 
for  Hungary,  in  shares  of  a  hundred  dollars  each.  "  Let  each  vil- 
lage, each  rural  town,  each  club,  make  up  by  collections  or  other- 
wise, enough  to  take  one  share  of  scrip,  and  so  up  to  as  many 
as  possible  ;  let  our  men  of  wealth  and  income  be  personally  solic- 
ited to  invest  generously,  and  let  us  resolve  at  least  to  raise  one 
million  dollars  off-hand.  Another  million  will  come  much  easier 
after  the  first."  But  alas  !  soon  came  the  news  of  the  catastrophe. 
For  a  reformed  code,  the  Tribune  contended  powerfully  during  the 
whole  time  of  the  agitation  of  that  subject.  It  welcomed  Father 
Matthew  this  year — fought  Bishop  Hughes — discussed  slavery — be- 
wailed the  fall  of  Rome — denounced  Louis  Napoleon — had  Consul 
Walsh,  the  American  apologist  of  despotism,  recalled  from  Paris — 
helped  Mrs.  Peabody  finish  Bowen  of  the  North  American  Review 
— explained  to  workmen  the  advantages  of  association  in  labor — 
assisted  Watson  G.  Haynes  in  his  crusade  against  flogging  in  the 


THE  ROCHESTER  KNOCKINGS.  321 

navy — went  dead  against  the  divorce  theories  of  Henry  James  and 
others — and  did  whatsoever  else  seemed  good  in  its  own  eyes. 
Among  other  things,  it  did  this  :  Horace  Greeley  being  accused 
by  the  Evening  Post  of  a  corrupt  compliancy  with  the  slave  inter- 
est, the  Tribune  began  its  reply  with  these  words : 

"You  lie,  villain  •   wilfully,  wickedly,  basely  lie  !" 

This  observation  called  forth  much  remark  at  the  time. 

Thrice  the  editor  of  the  Tribune  visited  the  Great  West  this  year, 
and  he  received  many  private  assurances,  though,  I  believe,  no  pub- 
lic ones,  that  his  course  in  Congress  was  approved  by  the  Great 
West.  In  Cincinnati  he  received  marked  attention,  which  he  grace- 
fully acknowledged  in  a  letter,  published  May  21st,  1849  : — "  I  can 
hardly  close  this  letter  without  acknowledging  the  'many  acts  of 
personal  generosity,  the  uniform  and  positive  kindness,  with  which 
I  was  treated  by  the  citizens  of  the  stately  Queen  of  the  West.  I 
would  not  so  far  misconstrue  and  outrage  these  hospitalities  as  to 
drag  the  names  of  those  who  tendered  them  before  the  public  gaze ; 
but  I  may  express  in  these  general  terms  my  regret  that  time  was 
not  afforded  me  to  testify  more  expressly  my  appreciation  of  regards 
which  could  not  fail  to  gratify,  even  while  they  embarrassed  one  so 
unfitted  for  and  unambitious  of  personal  attentions.  In  these,  the 
disappointment  caused  by  the  failure  of  our  expected  National  Tem- 
perance Jubilee  was 'quickly  forgotten,  and  only  the  stern  demands 
of  an  exacting  vocation  impelled  me  to  leave  so  soon  a  city  at  once 
so  munificent  and  so  interesting,  the  majestic  outpost  of  Free  Labor 
and  Free  Institutions,  in  whose  every  street  the  sound  of  the  build- 
er's hammer  and  trowel  speaks  so  audibly  of  a  growth  and  great- 
ness hardly  yet  begun.  Kind  friends  of  Cincinnati  and  of  Southern 
Ohio  !  I  wave  you  a  grateful  farewell!" 

In  December  appeared  the  first  account  of  the  '  Rochester  Knock- 
ings'  in  the  Tribune,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  from  ttat  most  practical 
of  cities.  The  letter  was  received  and  published  quite  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  business,  and  without  the  slightest  suspicion  on  the 
part  of  the  editors,  that  they  were  doing  an  act  of  historical  impori- 
ance.  On  the  contrar}7,  they  were  disposed  to  laugh  at  the  myste- 
rious narrative  ;  and,  a  few  days  after  its  publication,  in  reply  to  an 
anxious  correspondent,  the  paper  held  the  following  language:  — 
"  For  ourselves,  we  really  cannot  see  that  these  singular  revelations 

14* 


322  ASSOCIATION   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

and  experiences  have,  BO  far,  amounted  to  much.  We  have  yet  to 
hear  of  a  clairvoyant  whose  statements  concerning  facts  were  relia- 
ble, or  whose  facts  were  any  better  than  any  other  person's,  or  who 
could  discourse  rationally  without  mixing  in  a  proportion  of  non- 
sense. And  as  for  these  spirits  in  "Western  New  York  or  elsewhere, 
it  strikes  us  they  might  be  better  engaged  than  in  going  about  to 
give  from  one  to  three  knocks  on  the  floor  in  response  to  success- 
ive letters  of  the  alphabet ;  and  we  are  confident  that  ghosts  who 
had  anything  to  communicate  worth  listening  to,  would  hardly 
stoop  to  so  uninteresting  a  business  as  hammering." 

Nor  has  the  Tribune,  since,  contained  one  editorial  word  intimat- 
ing a  belief  in  the  spiritual  origin  of  the  '  manifestations.'  The  sub- 
ject, however,  attracted  much  attention,  and,  when  the  Rochester 
'  mediums'  came  to  the  city,  Horace  Greeley,  in  the  hope  of  eluci- 
dating the  mystery,  invited  them  to  reside  at  his  house,  which  they 
did  for  several  weeks.  He  did  not  discover,  nor  has  any  one  dis- 
covered, the  cause  of  the  singular  phenomena,  but  he  very  soon  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion,  that,  whatever  their  cause  might  be,  they 
could  be  of  no  practical  utility,  could  throw  no  light  on  the  tortu- 
ous and  difficult  path  of  human  life,  nor  cast  any  trustworthy 
gleams  into  the  future.  During  the  stay  of  the  mediums  at  his 
house,  they  were  visited  by  a  host  of  distinguished  persons,  and, 
among  others,  by  Jenny  Lind,  whose  behavior  on  the  occasion  was 
not  exactly  what  the  devotees  of  that  vocalist  would  expect. 

At  the  request  of  her  manager,  Mr.  Gree-ley  called  upon  the 
Nightingale  at  the  Union  Hotel,  and,  in  the  course  of  his  visit,  fell 
into  conversation  with  gentlemen  present  on  the  topic  of  the  day, 
the  Spiritual  Manifestations.  The  Swede  approached,  listened  to 
the  conversation  with  greedy  ears,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  witness 
some  of  the  marvels  which  she  heard  described.  Mr.  Greeley  invited 
her  to  his  house,  and  the  following  Sunday  morning  was  appointed 
for  the  visit.  She  came,  and  a  crowd  came  with  her,  filling  up  the 
narrow  parlor  of  the  house,  and  rendering  anything  in  the  way  of 
calm  investigation  impossible.  Mr.  Greeley  said  as  much ;  but  the 
'  mediums'  entered,  and  the  rappings  struck  up  with  vigor,  Jenny 
sitting  on  one  side  of  the  table  and  Mr.  Greeley  on  the  other. 

"  Take  your  hands  from  under  the  table,"  said  she  to  the  master 
of  the  house,  with  the  air  of  a  new  duchess. 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS  CONVENTION.  323 

It  was  as  though  she  had  said,  '  I  did  n't  come  here  to  be  hum- 
bugged, Mr.  Pale  Face,  and  you  'd  better  not  try  it.'  The  insulted 
gentleman  raised  his  hands  into  the  air,  and  did  not  request  her  to 
leave  the  house,  nor  manifest  in  any  other  way  his  evidently  acute 
sense  of  her  impertinent  conduct.  As  long  as  we  worship  a  woman 
on  account  of  a  slight  peculiarity  in  the  formation  of  part  of  her 
throat,  the  woman  so  worshiped  will  give  herself  airs.  The  blame 
is  ours,  not  hers.  The  rapping  continued,  and  the  party  retired, 
after  some  hours,  sufficiently  puzzled,  but  apparently  convinced  that 
there  was  no  collusion  between  the  table  and  the  '  mediums.' 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  spiritual  movement  is  well  known. 
It  has  caused  much  pain,  and  harm,  and  loss.  But,  like  every  other 
Event,  its  good  results,  realized  and  prospective,  are  greater  far 
than  its  evil.  It  has  awakened  some  from  the  insanity  of  indiffer- 
ence, to  the  insanity  of  an  exclusive  devotion  to  things  spiritual. 
But  many  spiritualists  have  stopped  short  of  the  latter  insanity,  and 
are  better  men,  in  every  respect,  than  they  were — better,  happier, 
and  more  hopeful.  It  has  delivered  many  from  the  degrading  fear 
of  death  and  the  future,  a  fear  more  prevalent,  perhaps,  than  is 
supposed;  for  men  are  naturally  and  justly  ashamed  of  their  fears, 
and  do  not  willingly  tell  them.  Spiritualism,  moreover,  may  be 
among  the  means  by  which  the  way  is  to  be  prepared  for  that  gen- 
eral, that  earnest,  that  fearless  consideration  of  our  "religious  sys- 
tems to  which,  they  will,  one  day,  be  subjected,  and  from  which  the 
truth  in  them  has  nothing  to  fear,  but  how  much  to  hope ! 

It  was  about  the  same  time  that  the  Tribune  rendered  another 
service  to  the  country,  by  publishing  a  fair  and  full  report  of  tho 
first  "Woman's  Convention,  accompanying  the  report  with  respectful 
and  favorable  remarks.  "  It  is  easy,"  said  the  Tribune,  "  to  be 
smart,  to  be  droll,  to  be  facetious,  in  opposition  to  the  demands  of 
these  Female  Reformers;  and,  in  decrying  assumptions  so  novel 
and  opposed  to  established  habits  and  usages,  a  little  wit  will  go  a 
great  way.  But  when  a  sincere  republican  is  asked  to  say  in  sober 
earnest  what  adequate  reason  he  can  give  for  refusing  the  demand 
of  women  to  an  equal  participation  with  men  in  political  rights,  ho 
must  answer,  None  at  all.  True,  he  may  say  that  he  believes  it 
unwise  in  them  to  make  the  demand— he  may  say  the  great  major- 
ity desire  no  such  thing ;  that  they  prefer  to  devote  their  time  to 


324  ASSOCIATION   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

the  discharge  of  home  duties  and  the  enjoyment  of  home  delightst 
leaving  the  functions  of  legislators,  sheriffs,  jurymen,  militia,  to 
their  fathers,  husbands,  brothers  ;  yet  if,  after  all,  the  question  recurs, 
'  But  suppose  the  women  should  generally  prefer  a  complete  political 
equality  with  men,  what  would  you  say  to  that  demand  T — the  an- 
swer must  be,  '  I  accede  to  it.  However  unwise  or  mistaken  the 
demand,  it  is  but  the  assertion  of  a  natural  right,  and  as  such  must 
be  conceded.' " 

The  report  of  this  convention  excited  much  discussion  and  more 
ridicule.  The  ridicule  has  died  away,  but  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
of  woman's  rights  and  wrongs  will  probably  continue  until  every 
statute  which  does  wrong  to  woman  is  expunged  from  the  laws. 
And  if,  before  voting  goes  out  of  fashion,  the  ladies  should  gener- 
ally desire  the  happiness,  such  as  it  is,  of  taking  part  in  elections, 
doubtless  that  happiness  will  be  conceded  them  also. 

Meanwhile,  an  important  movement  was  going  on  in  the  office  of 
the  Tribune.  Since  the  time  when  Mr.  Greeley  practically  gave  up 
Fourierism,  he  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject  of  Associa- 
ted Labor,  and  in  1848,  1849,  and  1850,  the  Tribune  published 
countless  articles,  showing  workingmen  how  to  become  their  own 
employers,  and  share  among  themselves  the  profits  of  their  work, 
instead  of  letting  them  go  to  swell  the  gains  of  a  'Boss.'  It  was 
but  natural  that  workingmen  should  reply,  as' they  often  did, — 'If 
Association  is  the  right  principle  on  which  to  conduct  business,  if  it 
is  best,  safest,  and  most  just  to  all  concerned,  why  not  try  it  your- 
self, O  Tribune  of  the  People!'  That  was  precisely  what  the  Tri- 
bune of  the  People  had  long  meditated,  and,  in  the  year  1849,  he 
and  his  partner  resolved  to  make  the  experiment.  They  were  both, 
at  the  time,  in  the  enjoyment  of  incomes  superfluously  large,  and 
the  contemplated  change  in  their  business  was,  therefore,  not  in- 
duced by  any  business  exigency.  It  was  the  result  of  a  pure,  dis- 
interested attachment  to  principle ;  a  desire  to  add  practice  to 
preaching. 

The  establishment  was  valued  by  competent  judges  at  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  a  low  valuation ;  for  its  annual  profits  amounted 
to  more  than  thirty  thousand  dollars.  But  newspaper  property 
differs  from  all  other.  It  is  won  with  difficulty,  but  it  is  precarious. 
An  unlucky  paragraph  may  depreciate  it  one-half;  a  perverse  edi- 


THE    TRIBUNE   ASSOCIATION.  325 

tor,  destroy  it  altogether.  It  is  tangible,  and  yet  intangible.  It  is 
a  body  and  it  is  a  soul.  Horace  Greeley  might  have  said,  The  Tri- 
lune—it  is  /,  with  more  truth  than  the  French  King  could  boast, 
when  he  made  a  similar  remark  touching  himself  and  the  State. 
And  Mr.  McElrath,  glancing  round  at  the  types,  the  subscription 
books,  the  iron  chest,  the  mighty  heaps  of  paper,  and  listening  to 
the  thunder  of  the  press  in  the  vaults  below,  might  have  been  par- 
doned if  he  had  said,  The  Tribune — these  are  the  Tribune. 

The  property  was  divided  into  a  hundred  shares  of  a  thousand 
dollars  each,  and  a  few  of  them  were  offered  for  sale  to  the  leading 
men  in  each  department,  the  foremen  of  the  composing  and  press- 
rooms, the  chief  clerks  and  bookkeepers,  the  most  prominent  edi- 
tors. In  all,  about  twelve  shares  were  thus  disposed  of,  each  of  the 
original  partners  selling  six.  In  some  cases,  the  purchasers  paid 
only  a  part  of  the  price  in  cash,  and  were  allowed  to  pay  the  re- 
mainder out  of  the  income  of  their  share.  Each  share  entitled  its 
possessor  to  one  vote  in  the  decisions  of  the  company.  In  the 
course  of  time,  further  sales  of  shares  took  place,  until  the  original 
proprietors  were  owners  of  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  con- 
cern. Practically,  the  power,  the  controlling  voice,  belonged  still 
to  Messrs.  Greeley  and  McElrath ;  but  the  dignity  and  advantage 
of  OWNERSHIP  were  conferred  on  all  those  who  exercised  authority 
in  the  several  departments.  And  this  was  the  great  good  of  the 
new  system. 

That  there  is  something  in  being  a  hired  servant  which  is  natur- 
ally and  deeply  abhorrent  to  men  is  shown  by  the  intense  desire 
that  every  hireling  manifests  to  escape  from  that  condition.  Many 
are  the  ties  by  which  man  has  been  bound  in  industry  to  his  fellow 
man  ;  but,  of  them  all,  that  seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  unfraternal, 
unsafe,  unfair,  and  demoralizing.  The  slave,  degraded  and  defraud- 
ed as  he  is,  is  safe ;  the  hireling  holds  his  life  at  the  caprice  of 
another  man ;  for,  says  Shylock,  he  takes  my  life  who  takes  from 
me  my  means  of  living.  "  How  is  business  ]"  said  one  employer  to 
another,  a  few  days  ago.  "Dull,"  was  the  reply.  "I  hold  on 
merely  to  keep  the  hands  in  work."  Think  of  that.  Merely  to 
keep  the  hands  in  work.  Merely  I  As  if  there  could  be  a  better 
reason  for  4  holding  on ;'  as  if  all  other  reasons  combined  were  not 
infinitely  inferior  in  weight  to  this  one  of  keeping  men  in  work  ; 


326  ON    THE    PLATFORM. 

keeping  men  in  heart,  keeping  men  in  happiness,  keeping  men  in 
use !  But  universal  hirelingism  is  quite  inevitable  at  present,  when 
the  governments  and  institutions  most  admired  may  be  defined  as 
Organized  Distrusts.  "When  we  are  better,  and  truer,  and  wiser,  we 
shall  labor  together  on  very  different  terms  than  are  known  to  "Way- 
land's  Political  Economy.  Till  then,  we  must  live  in  pitiful  estrange- 
ment from  one  another,  and  strive  in  sorry  competition  for 
triumphs  which  bless  not  when  they  are  gained. 

The  experiment  of  association  in  the  office  of  the  Tribune,  has, 
to  all  appearance,  worked  well.  The  paper  has  improved  steadily 
and  rapidly.  It  has  lost  none  of  its  independence,  none  of  its  viva- 
city, and  has  gained  in  weight,  wisdom,  and  influence.  A  vast 
amount  of  work  of  various  kinds  is  done  in  the  office,  but  it  is  done 
harmoniously  and  easily.  And  of  all  the  proprietors,  there  is  not 
one,  whether  he  be  editor,  printer,  or  clerk,  who  does  not  live  in  a 
more  stylish  house,  fare  more  sumptuously,  and  dress  more  expen- 
sively, than  the  Editor  in  Chief.  The  experiment,  however,  is  in- 
complete. Nine-tenths  of  those  who  assist  in  the  work  of  the  Tri- 
bune are  connected  with  it  solely  by  the  tie  of  wages,  which  change 
not,  whether  the  profits  of  the  establishment  fall  to  zero  or  rise  to 
the  highest  notch  upon  the  scale. 

More  of  association  in  the  next  chapter,  where  our  hero  appears, 
for  the  first  time,  in  the  character  of  author. 


CHAPTER    XXY. 

ON     THE     PLATFORM. 

HINTS  TOWARDS   REFORMS. 

The  Lecture  System— Comparative  popularity  of  the  leading  Lecturers— Horace  Gree- 
ley  at  the  Tabernacle— His  audience— His  appearance— His  manner  of  speaking— 
His  occasional  addresses— The  'Hints'  published— Its  one  subject,  the  Emancipa- 
tion of  Labor— The  Problems  of  the  Time— The  '  successful'  man— The  duty  of  the 
State— The  educated  class— A  narrative  for  workingmen— The  catastrophe. 

LEOTUBING,  of  late  years,  has  become,  in  this  country,  what  is 
facetiously  termed  '  an  institution.'    And  whether  we  regard  it  as  a 


THE  LECTURE  SYSTEM.  827 

means  of  public  instruction,  or  as  a  means  of  making  money,  we 
cannot  deny  that  it  is  an  institution  of  great  importance. 

"  The  bubble  reputation,"  said  Sbakspeare.  Eeputation  is  a  bub- 
ble no  longer.  Eeputation,  it  has  been  discovered,  will  '  draw."1 
Eeputation  alone  will  draw  !  That  airy  nothing  is,  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  new  institution,  convertible  into  solid  cash,  into 
a  large  pile  of  solid  cash.  Small  fortunes  have  been  made  by  it  in 
a  single  winter,  by  a  single  lecture  or  course  of  lectures.  Thack- 
eray, by  much  toil  and  continuous  production,  attained  an  income 
of  seven  thousand  dollars  a  year.  He  crosses  the  Atlantic,  and,  in 
one  short  season,  without  producing  a  line,  gains  thirteen  thousand, 
and  could  have  gained  twice  as  much  if  he  had  been  half  as  much 
a  man  of  business  as  he  is  a  man  of  genius.  Ik  Marvel  writes  a 
book  or  two  which  brings  him  great  praise  and  some  cash.  Then 
he  writes  one  lecture,  and  not  a  very  good  one  either,  and  trans- 
mutes a  little  of  his  glory  into  plenty  of  money,  with  which  he 
buys  leisure  to  produce  a  work  worthy  of  his  powers.  Bayard  Tay- 
lor roams  over  a  great  part  of  the  habitable  and  uninhabitable  globe. 
He  writes  letters  to  the  Tribune,  very  long,  very  fatiguing  to  write 
on  a  journey,  and  not  saleable  at  a  high  price.  He  comes  home, 
and  sighs,  perchance,  that  there  are  no  more  lands  to  visit.  "  Lec- 
ture!" suggests  the  Tribune,  and  he  lectures.  He  carries  two  or 
three  manuscripts  in  his  carpet-bag,  equal  to  half  a  dozen  of  his 
Tribune  letters  in  bulk.  He  ranges  the  country,  far  and  wide,  and 
brings  back  money  enough  to  carry  him  ten  times  round  the  world. 
It  was  his  reputation  that  did  the  business.  He  earned  that  money 
by  years  of  adventure  and  endurance  in  strange  and  exceedingly 
hot  countries  ;  he  gathered,  up  his  earnings  in  three  months — earn- 
ings which,  but  for  the  invention  of  lecturing,  he  would  never  have 
touched  a  dollar  of.  Park  Benjamin,  if  he  sold  his  satirical  poems 
to  Putnam's  Magazine,  would  get  less  than  hod-carriers'  wages ; 
but,  selling  them  directly  to  the  public,  at  so  much  a  hear,  they 
bring  him  in,  by  the  time  he  has  supplied  ail  his  customers,  five 
thousand  dollars  apiece.  Lecturing  has  been  commended  as  an  an- 
tidote to  the  alleged  ;  docility'  of  the  press,  and  the  alleged  dullness 
of  the  pulpit.  It  may  be.  /praise  it  because  it  enables  the  man  of 
letters  to  get  partial  payment  from  the  public  for  the  incalculable 
services  which  he  renders  the  public. 


328  ON    THE   PLATFORM. 

Lectures  are  important,  too,  as  the  means  by  which  the  publia 
are  brought  into  actual  contact  and  acquaintance  with  the  famous 
men  of  the  country.  "What  a  delight  it  is  to  see  the  men  whose 
writings  have  charmed,  and  moved,  and  formed  us !  And  there  is 
something  in  the  presence  of  a  man,  in  the  living  voice,  in  the  eye, 
the  face,  the  gesture,  that  gives  to  thought  and  feeling  an  express- 
ion far  more  effective  than  the  pen,  unassisted  by  these,  can  ever  at- 
tain. Horace  Greeley  is  aware  of  this,  and  he  seldom  omits  an 
opportunity  of  bringing  the  influence  of  his  presence  to  bear  in  in- 
culcating the  doctrines  to  which  he  is  attached.  He  has  been  for 
many  years  in  the  habit  of  writing  one  or  two  lectures  in  the 
course  of  the  season,  and  delivering  them  as  occasion  offered.  No 
man,  not  a  professional  lecturer,  appears  oftener  on  the  platform 
than  he.  In  the  winter  of  1853-4,  he  lectured,  on  an  average,  twice 
a  week.  He  has  this  advantage  over  the  professional  lecturer. 
The  professional  lecturer  stands  before  the  public  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  an  editor ;  that  is,  he  is  subject  to  the  same  necessity  to  make 
the  banquet  palatable  to  those  who  pay  for  it,  and  who  will  not 
come  again  if  they  do  not  like  it.  But  the  man  whose  position  is 
already  secure,  to  whom  lecturing  is  only  a  subsidiary  employment, 
is  free  to  utter  the  most  unpopular  truths. 

A  statement  published  last  winter,  of  the  proceeds  of  a  course  of 
lectures  delivered  before  the  Young  Men's  Association  of  Chicago,  af- 
fords a  test,  though  an  imperfect  one,  of  the  popularity  of  some  of  our 
lecturers.  E.  P.  Whipple,  again  to  borrow  the  language  of  the  thea- 
tre, 4  drew'  seventy- nine  dollars  ;  Horace  Mann,  ninety-five ;  Geo.  W. 
Curtis,  eighty-seven ;  Dr.  Lord,  thirty-three ;  Horace  Greeley,  one 
hundred  and  ninety-three;  Theodore  Parker,  one  hundred  and 
twelve  ;  W.  H.  Channing,  thirty-three ;  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  (did  it 
rain  ?)  thirty-seven;  Bishop  Potter,  forty-five ;  John  G.  Saxe,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five ;  W.  H.  C.  Hosmer,  twenty-six ;  Bayard  Tay- 
lor (lucky  fellow !)  two  hundred  and  fifty-two. 

In  large  cities,  the  lecturer  has  to  contend  with  rival  attractions, 
theatre,  concert,  and  opera.  His  performance  is  subject  to  a  com- 
parison with  the  sermons  of  distinguished  clergymen,  of  which  some 
are  of  a  quality  that  no  lecture  surpasses.  To  know  the  import- 
ance of  the  popular  lecturer,  one  must  reside  in  a  country  town, 
the  even  tenor  of  whose  way  is  seldom  broken  by  an  event  of  com- 


THE    TABERNACLE.  329 

manding  interest.  The  arrival  of  the  great  man  is  expected  with 
eagerness.  A  committee  of  the  village  magnates  meet  him  at  the 
cars  and  escort  him  to  his  lodging.  There  has  been  contention  who 
should  be  his  entertainer,  and  the  owner  of  the  best  house  has  car- 
ried off  the  prize.  He  is  introduced  to  half  the  adult  population. 
There  is  a  buzz  and  an  agitation  throughout  the  town.  There  is 
talk  of  the  distinguished  visitor  at  all  the  tea-tables,  in  the  stores, 
and  across  the  palings  of  garden-fences.  The  largest  church  is  gen- 
erally the  scene  of  his  triumph,  and  it  is  a  triumph.  The  words  of 
the  stranger  are  listened  to  with  attentive  admiration,  and  the  im- 
pression they  make  is  not  obliterated  by  the  recurrence  of  a  new 
excitement  on  the  morrow. 

Not  so  in  the  city,  the  hurrying,  tumultuous  city,  where  the.  re- 
appearance of  Solomon  in  all  his  glory,  preceded  by  Dodworth's 
band,  would  serve  as  the  leading  feature  of  the  newspapers  for  one 
day,  give  occasion  for  a  few  depreciatory  articles  on  the  next,  and 
be  swept  from  remembrance  by  a  new  astonishment  on  the  third. 
Yet,  as  we  are  here,  let  us  go  to  the  Tabernacle  and  hear  Horace 
Greeley  lecture. 

The  Tabernacle,  otherwise  called  c  The  Cave,'  is  a  church  which 
looks  as  little  like  an  ecclesiastical  edifice  as  can  be  imagined.  It 
is  a  large,  circular  building,  with  a  floor  slanting  towards  the  plat- 
form— pulpit  it  has  none — and  galleries  that  rise,  rank  above  rank, 
nearly  to  the  ceiling,  which  is  supported  by  six  thick,  smooth  col- 
umns, that  stand  round  what  has  been  impiously  styled  the  'pit,' 
like  giant  spectators  of  a  pigmy  show.  The  platform  is  so  placed, 
that  the  speaker  stands  not  far  from  the  centre  of  the  building, 
where  he  seems  engulfed  in  a  sea  of  audience,  that  swells  and 
surges  all  around  and  far  above  him.  A  better  place  for  an  orator- 
ical display  the  city  does  not  afford.  It  received  its  cavernous  nick- 
name, merely  in  derision  of  the  economical  expenditure  of  gas  that 
its  proprietors  venture  upon  when  they  let  the  building  for  an 
evening  entertainment ;  and  the  dismal  hue  of  the  walls  and  col- 
umns gives  further  propriety  to  the  epithet.  The  Tabernacle  will 
contain  an  audience  of  three  thousand  persons.  At  present,  there 
are  not  more  than  six  speakers  and  speakeresses  in  the  United 
States  who  can  '  draw '  it  full ;  and  of  these,  Horace  Greeley  is  not 


330  OST    THE   PLATFORM. 

one.     His  number  is  about  twelve  hundred.     Let  us  suppose  it  half- 
past  seven,  and  the  twelve  hundred  arrived. 

The  audience,  we  observe,  has  decidedly  the  air  of  a  country  au- 
dience. Fine  ladies  and  fine  gentlemen  there  are  none.  Of  farmers 
who  look  as  if  they  took  the  Weekly  Tribune  and  are  in  town  to- 
night by  accident,  there  are  hundreds.  City  mechanics  are  present 
in  considerable  numbers.  An  ardent-looking  young  man,  with  a 
spacious  forehead  and  a  turn-over  shirt-collar,  may  be  seen  here  and 
there.  A  few  ladies  in  Bloomer  costume  of  surpassing  ugliness— 
the  costume,  not  the  ladies — come  down  the  steep  aisles  now  and 
then,  with  a  well-preserved  air  of  unconsciousness.  In  that  assem- 
bly no  one  laughs  at  them.  The  audience  is  sturdy,  solid-looking, 
appreciative  and  opinionative,  ready  for  broad  views  and  broad 
humor,  and  hard  hits.  Every  third  man  is  reading  a  newspaper, 
for  they  are  men  of  progress,  and  must  make  haste  to  keep  up  with 
the  times,  and  the  times  are  fast.  Men  are  going  about  offering 
books  for  sale — perhaps  Uncle  Tom,  perhaps  a  treatise  on  Water- 
Cure,  and  perhaps  Horace  Greeley's  Hints  toward  Reforms ;  but 
certainly  something  which  belongs  to  the  Nineteenth  Century.  A 
good  many  free  and  independent  citizens  keep  their  hats  on,  and 
some  'speak  right  out  in  meeting,'  as  they  converse  with  their 
neighbors. 

But  the  lecturer  enters  at  the  little  door  under  the  gallery  on  the 
right,  and  when  the  applause  apprizes  us  of  the  fact,  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  his  bald  head  and  sweet  face  as  he  wags  his  hasty  way 
to  the  platform,  escorted  by  a  few  special  adherents  of  the  "  Cause" 
he  is  about  to  advocate.  The  newspapers,  the  hats,  the  conversa- 
tion, the  book-selling  are  discontinued,  and  silent  attention  is  the 
order  of  the  night.  People  with  *  causes'  at  their  hearts  are  full  of 
business,  and  on  such  occasions  there  are  always  some  preliminary 
announcements  to  be  made — of  lectures  to  come,  of  meetings  to  be 
held,  of  articles  to  appear,  of  days  to  celebrate,  of  subscriptions  to 
be  undertaken.  These  over,  the  lecturer  rises,  takes  his  place  at 
the  desk,  and,  while  the  applause,  which  never  fails  on  any  public 
occasion  to  greet  this  man,  continues,  he  opens  his  lecture,  puts  on 
his  spectacles,  and  then,  looking  up  at  the  audience  with  an  express- 
ion of  inquiring  benignity,  waits  to  begin. 

Generally,  Mr.  Greeley's  attire  is  in  a  condition  of  the  most  hope- 


HIS   MANNER    OF    SPEAKING.  331 

less,  and,  as  it  were,  elaborate  disorder.  It  would  be  applauded  on 
the  stage  as  an  excellent  '  make-up.'  His  dress,  it  is  true,  is  never 
unclean,  and  seldom  unsound ;  but  he  usually  presents  the  appear- 
ance of  a  man  who  has  been  traveling,  night  and  day,  for  six  weeks 
in  a  stage-coach,  stopping  long  enough  for  an  occasional  hasty  ablu- 
tion, and  a  hurried  throwing  on  of  clean  linen.  It  must  be  admit- 
ted, however,  that  when  he  is  going  to  deliver  a  set  lecture  to  a  city 
audience  his  apparel  does  bear  marks  of  an  attempted  adjustment. 
But  it  is  the  attempt  of  a  man  who  does  something  to  which  he  is 
unaccustomed,  and  the  result  is  sometimes  more  surprising  than  the 
neglect.  On  the  present  occasion,  the  lecturer,  as  he  stands  there 
waiting  for  the  noise  to  subside,  has  the  air  of  a  farmer,  not  in  his 
Sunday  clothes,  but  in  that  intermediate  rig,  once  his  Sunday  suit, 
in  which  he  attends  "  the  meeting  of  the  trustees,"  announced  last 
Sunday  at  church,  and  which  he  dons  to  attend  court  when  a 
cause  is  coming  on  that  he  is  interested  in.  A  most  respect- 
able man ;  but  the  tie  of  his  neckerchief  was  executed  in  a  fit  of 
abstraction,  without  the  aid  of  a  looking-glass ;  perhaps  in  the  dark, 
when  he  dressed  himself  this  morning  before  &ay-liglit — to  adopt 
his  own  emphasis. 

Silence  is  restored,  and  the  lecture  begins.  The  voice  of  the 
speaker  is  more  like  a  woman's  than  a  man's,  high-pitched,  small, 
soft,  but  heard  with  ease  in  the  remotest  part  of  the  Tabernacle. 
His  first  words  are  apologetic ;  they  are  uttired  in  a  deprecatory, 
slightly-beseeching  tone;  and  their  substance  is,  'You  must  n't,  my 
friends,  expect  fine  words  from  a  rough,  busy  man  like  me ;  yet  such 
observations  as  I  have  been  able  hastily  to  note  down,  I  will  now 
submit,  though  wishing  an  abler  man  stood  at  this  moment  in  my 
shoes.'  He  proceeds  to  read  his  discourse  in  a  plain,  utterly  unam- 
bitious, somewhat  too  rapid  manner,  pushing  on  through  any  mod- 
erate degree  of  applause  without  waiting.  If  there  is  a  man  in  the 
world  who  is  more  un-oratorical  than  any  other — and  of  course 
there  is  such  a  man — and  if  that  man  be  not  Horace  Greeley,  I  know 
not  where  he  is  to  be  found.  A  plain  man  reading  plain  sense  to 
plain  men;  a  practical  man  stating  quietly  to  practical  men  the 
results  of  his  thought  and  observation,  stating  what  he  entirely  be- 
lieves, what  he  wants  the  world  to  believe,  what  he  knows  will  not 
be  generally  believed  in  his  time,  what  he  is  quite  sure  will  one  day 


332  ON   THE    PLATFORM. 

be  universally  believed,  and  what  he  is  perfectly  patient  with,  the 
world  for  not  believing  yet.  There  is  no  gesticulation,  no  increased 
animation  at  important  passages,  no  glow  got  up  for  the  closing 
paragraphs ;  no  aiming  at  any  sort  of  effect  whatever ;  no  warmth 
of  personal  feeling  against  opponents.  There  is  a  shrewd  humor  in 
the  man,  however,  and  his  hits  excite  occasional  bursts  of  laughter ; 
but  there  is  no  bitterness  in  his  humor,  not  the  faintest  approach  to 
it.  An  impressive  or  pathetic  passage  now  and  then,  which  loses 
none  of  its  effect  from  the  simple,  plaintive  way  in  which  it  is 
uttered,  deepens  the  silence  which  prevails  in  the  hall,  at  the  end 
eliciting  warm  and  general  applause,  which  the  speaker  '  improves7 
by  drinking  a  little  water.  The  attention  of  the  audience  never 
flags,  and  the  lecture  concludes  amid  the  usual  tokens  of  decided 
approbation. 

Horace  Greeley  is,  indeed,  no  orator.  Yet  some  who  value 
oratory  less  than  any  other  kind  of  bodily  labor,  and  whom  the 
tricks  of  elocution  offend,  except  when  they  are  performed  on  the 
stage,  and  even  there  they  should  be  concealed,  have  expressed 
the  opinion  that  Mr.  Greeley  is,  strictly  speaking,  one  of  the  ~best 
speakers  this  metropolis  can  boast.  A  man,  they  say,  never  does 
a  weaker,  an  unworthier,  a  more  self- demoralizing  thing  than  when 
he  speaks  for  effect ;  and  of  this  vice  Horace  is  less  guilty  than  any 
speaker  we  are  in  the  habit  of  hearing,  except  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson.  Not  that  h^  does  not  make  exaggerated  statements ;  not 
that  he  does  not  utter  sentiments  which  are  only  half  true ;  not 
that  he  does  not  sometimes  indulge  in  language  which,  when  read, 
savor  of  the  high-flown.  What  I  mean  is,  that  his  public  speeches 
are  literally  transcripts  of  the  mind  whence  they  emanate. 

At  public  meetings  and  public  dinners  Mr.  Greeley  is  a  frequent 
speaker.  His  name  usually  comes  at  the  end  of  the  report,  intro- 
duced with  "  Horace  Greeley  being  loudly  called  for,  made  a  few 
remarks  to  the  following  purport."  The  call  is  never  declined ; 
nor  does  he  ever  speak  without  saying  something;  and  when  he 
has  said  it  he  resumes  his  seat.  He  has  a  way,  particularly  of  late 
years,  of  coming  to  a  meeting  when  it  is  nearly  over,  delivering  one 
of  his  short,  enlightening  addresses,  and  then  embracing  the  first 
opportunity  that  offers  of  taking  an  unobserved  departure. 

A  few  words  with  regard  to  the  subjects  upon  which  Horace 


"HINTS  TOWARDS  REFORMS."  833 

Qreeley  most  loves  to  discourse.  In  1850,  a  volume,  containing 
ten  of  bis  lectures  and  twenty  shorter  essays,  appeared  from  the 
press  of  the  Messrs.  Harpers,  under  the  title  of  "  Hints  towards 
Eeforms."  It  has  had  a  sale  of  2,000  copies.  Two  or  three  other 
lectures  have  been  published  in  pamphlet  form,  of  which  the  one 
entitled  "What  the  Sister  Arts  teach  as  to  Farming,"  delivered  be- 
fore the  Indiana  State  Agricultural  Society,  at  its  annual  fair  at 
Lafayette  in  October,  1853,  is  perhaps  the  best  that  Mr.  Greeley 
has  written.  But  let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  4  Hints.'  The 
title-page  contains  three  quotations  or  mottoes,  appropriate  to  the 
book,  and  characteristic  of  the  author.  They  are  these : 

"  HASTEN  the  day,  just  Heaven  ! 

Accomplish  thy  design, 
And  let  the  blessings  Thou  hast  freely  given 

Freely  on  all  men  shine  ; 
Till  Equal  Rights  be  equally  enjoyed, 
And  human  power  for  human  good  employed ; 
Till  Law,  and  not  the  Sovereign,  rule  sustain 
And  Peace  and  Virtue  undisputed  reign.  "  HENRY  WARE." 

"  LISTEN  not  to  the  everlasting  Conservative,  who  pines  and  whines  at 
every  attempt  to  drive  him  from  the  spot  where  he  has  so  lazily  cast  his  an* 
chor.  .  .  .  Every  abuse  must  be  abolished.  The  whole  system  must  be 
settled  on  the  right  basis.  Settle  it  ten  times  and  settle  it  wrong,  you  will 
have  the  work  to  begin  again.  Be  satisfied  with  nothing  but  the  complete 
enfranchisement  of  Humanity,  and  the  restoration  of  man  to  the  image  of 
his  God.  "  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER." 

ONCE  the  welcome  Light  has  broken, 

Who  shall  say 
What  the  unimagined  glories 

Of  the  day  1 
What  the  evil  that  shall  perish 

In  its  ray  1 

Aid  the  dawning,  Tongue  and  Pen  ! 
Aid  it,  hopes  of  honest  men  ! 
Aid  it,  Paper  !  aid  it,  Type  ! 
Aid  it,  for  the  hour  is  ripe  ! 
And  our  earnest  must  not  slacken 

Into  play  : 
Men  of  Thought,  and  Men  of  Action, 

CLEAR  THE  WAY  !  "  CHARLES  MACKAY." 


'*•  * 

334  ON   THE   PLATFORM. 

The  dedication  is  no  less  characteristic.  I  copy  that  also,  as 
throwing  light  upon  the  aim  and  manner  of  the  man : 

11  To  the  generous,  the  hopeful,  the  loving,  who,  firmly  and  joyfully  believ- 
ing in  the  impartial  and  boundless  goodness  of  our  Father,  trust,  that  the 
errors,  the  crimes,  and  the  miseries,  which  have  long  rendered  earth  a  hell, 
shall  yet  be  swallowed  up  and  forgotten,  in  a  far  exceeding  and  unmeasured 
reign  of  truth,  purity,  and  bliss,  this  volume  is  respectfully  and  affectionately 
inscribed  by  "THE  AUTHOR." 

Earth  is  not '  a  hell.'  The  expression  appears  very  harsh  and 
very  unjust.  Earth  is  not  a  hell.  Its  sum  of  happiness  is  infinitely 
greater  than  its  sum  of  misery.  It  contains  scarcely  one  creature 
that  does  not,  in  the  course  of  its  existence,  enjoy  more  than  it 
suffers,  that  does  not  do  a  greater  number  of  right  acts  than 
wrong.  Yet  the  world  as  it  is,  compared  with  the  world  as  a 
benevolent  heart  wishes  it  to  be,  is  hell-like  enough ;  so  we  may,  in 
this  sense,  but  in  this  sense  alone,  accept  the  language  of  the  dedi- 
cation. 

The  preface  informs  us,  that  the  lectures  were  prompted  by  invi- 
tations to  address  Popular  Lyceums  and  Young  Men's  Associations, 
'generally  those  of  the  humbler  class,'  existing  in  country  villages 
and  rural  townships.  "  They  were  written,"  says  the  author,  "  in 
the  years  from  1842  to  1848,  inclusive,  each  in  haste,  to  fulfil  some 
engagement  already  made,  for  which  preparation  had  been  delayed, 
under  the  pressure  of  seeming  necessities,  to  the  latest  moment 
allowable.  A  calling  whose  exactions  are  seldom  intermitted  for  a 
day,  never  for  a  longer  period,  and  whose  requirements,  already  ex- 
cessive, seem  perpetually  to  expand  and  increase,  may  well  excuse 
the  distraction  of  thought  and  rapidity  of  composition  which  it 
renders  inevitable.  At  no  time  has  it  seemed  practicable  to  devote 
a  whole  day,  seldom  a  full  half  day,  to  the  production  of  any  of 
the  essays.  Not  until  months  after  the  last  of  them  was  written 
did  the  idea  of  collecting  and  printing  them  in  this  shape  suggest 
itself,  and  a  hurried  perusal  is  all  that  has  since  been  given 
them." 

The  eleven  published  lectures  of  Horace  G-reeley  which  lie  before 
me,  are  variously  entitled ;  but  their  subject  is  ONE  ;  his  subject  is 
ever  the  same ;  the  object  of  his  public  life  is  single.  It  is  the 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OP   LABOR.  335 

4  EMANCIPATION  OF  LABOE  ;' its  emancipation  from  ignorance,  vice, 
servitude,  insecurity,  poverty.  This  is  his  chosen,  only  theme, 
"whether  he  speaks  from  the  platform,  or  writes  for  the  Tribune.  If 
slavery  is  the  subject  of  discourse,  the  Dishonor  which  Slavery  does 
to  Labor  is  the  light  in  which  he  prefers  to  present  it.  If  protec- 
tion— he  demands  it  in  the  name  and  for  the  good  of  American 
workingmen,  that  their  minds  may  be  quickened  by  diversified  em- 
ployment, their  position  secured  by  abundant  employment,  the 
farmers  enriched  by  markets  near  at  hand.  If  Learning — he  la- 
ments the  unnatural  divorce  between  Learning  and  Labor,  and  ad- 
vocates their  re-union  in  manual-labor  schools.  If  'Human  Life ' — 
he  cannot  refrain  from  reminding  his  hearers,  that  "the  deep  want 
of  the  time  is,  that  the  vast  resources  and  capacities  of  Mind,  the 
far-stretching  powers  of  Genius  and  of  Science,  be  brought  to  bear 
practically  and  intimately  on  Agriculture,  the  Mechanic  Arts,  and 
all  the  now  rude  and  simple  processes  of  Day-Labor,  and  not 
merely  that  these  processes  may  be  perfected  and  accelerated, 
but  that  the  benefits  of  the  improvement  may  accrue  in  at  least 
equal  measure  to  those  whose  accustomed  means  of  livelihood — 
scanty  at  best — are  interfered  with  and  overturned  by  the  change." 
If  the  'Formation  of  Character' — he  calls  upon  men  who  aspire 
to  possess  characters  equal  to  the  demands  of  the  time,  to  "  question 
with  firm  speech  all  institutions,  observances,  customs,  that  they 
may  determine  by  what  mischance  or  illusion  thriftless  Pretence 
and  Knavery  shall  seem  to  batten  on  a  brave  Prosperity,  while  La- 
bor vainly  begs  employment,  Skill  lacks  recompense,  and  Worth 
pines  for  bread."  If  Popular  Education — he  reminds  us,  that 
"the  narrow,  dingy,  squalid  tenement,  calculated  to  repel  any 
visitor  but  the  cold  and  the  rain,  is  hardly  fitted  to  foster  lofty 
ideas  of  Life,  its  Duties  and  its  Aims.  And  he  who  is  constrained 
to  ask  each  morning,  '  Where  shall  I  find  food  for  the  day  ?'  is 
at  best  unlikely  often  to  ask,  'By  what  good  deed  shall  the  day 
be  signalized  V  "  Or,  in  a  lighter  strain,  he  tells  the  story  of  Tom 
and  the  Colonel.  "  Tom,"  said  a  Colonel  on  the  Rio  Grande  to 
one  of  his  command,  "how  can  so  brave  and  good  a  soldier  as 
you  are  so  demean  himself  as  to  get  drunk  at  every  opportu- 
nity?"— "Colonel!"  replied  the  private,  " how  can  you  expect  all 


336  ON   THE   PLATFORM. 

the  virtues  that  adorn  the  human  character  for  seven  dollars  a 
month  ?"  That  anecdote  well  illustrates  one  side  of  Horace  Greeley's 
view  of  life. 

The  problems  which,  he  says,  at  present  puzzle  the  knotted  brain 
of  toil  all  over  the  world,  which  incessantly  cry  out  for  solution, 
and  can  never  more  be  stifled,  but  will  become  even  more  vehe- 
ment, till  they  are  solved,  are  these : 

"  Why  should  those  by  whose  toil  ALL  comforts  and  luxuries  are 
produced,  or  made  available,  enjoy  so  scanty  a  share  of  them  ?  Why 
should  a  man  able  and  eager  to  work  ever  stand  idle  for  want  of  em- 
ployment in  a  world  where  so  much  needful  work  impatiently  awaits 
the  doing  f  Why  should  a  man  be  required  to  surrender  something 
of  his  independence  in  accepting  the  employment  which  will  enable 
him  to  earn  by  honest  effort  the  bread  of  his  family  ?  Why  should 
the  man  who  faithfully  labors  for  another,  and  receives  therefor  less 
than  the  product  of  his  labor,  be  currently  held  the  obliged  party, 
rather  than  he  who  buys  the  work  and  makes  a  good  bargain  of  it  f 
In  short,  Why  should  Speculation  and  Scheming  ride  so  jauntily  in 
their  carriages,,  splashing  honest  Work  as  it  trudges  humbly  and 
wearily  by  on  foot  ?" 

Who  is  there  so  estranged  from  humanity  as  never  to  have  pon* 
dered  questions  similar  to  these,  whether  he  ride  jauntily  in  a  car* 
riage,  or  trudge  wearily  on  foot  ?  They  have  been  proposed  in  for- 
mer ages  as  abstractions.  They  are  discussed  now  as  though  the 
next  generation  were  to  answer  them,  practically  and  triumph' 
antly. 

First  of  all,  the  author  of  Hints  towards  Reforms  admits  frankly, 
and  declares  emphatically,  that  the  obstacle  to  the  workingman's 
elevation  is  the  workingman's  own  improvidence,  ignorance,  and 
unworthiness.  This  side  of  the  case  is  well  presented  in  a  sketch 
of  the  career  of  the  *  successful'  man  of  business : 

"A  keen  observer,"  says  the  lecturer,  "could  have  picked  him  out  from 
among  his  schoolfellows,  and  said,  '  Here  is  the  lad  who  will  die  a  bank-presi- 
dent, owning  factories  and  blocks  of  stores.'  Trace  his  history  closely,"  he 
continues,  "  and  you  find  that,  in  his  boyhood,  he  was  provident  and  frugal — 
that  he  shunned  expense  and  dissipation— that  he  feasted  and  quaffed  seldom, 


THE    PROBLEMS    OF    THE    TIME.  337 

unless  at  others'  cost — that  he  was  rarely  seen  at  balls  or  frolics — that  he  was 
diligent  in  study  and  in  business — that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  do  an  incompati- 
ble job,  if  it  bade  fair  to  be  profitable — that  he  husbanded  his  hours  and  made 
each  count  one,  either  in  earning  or  in  preparing  to  work  efficiently.  He 
rarely  or  never  stood  idle  because  the  business  offered  him  was  esteemed  un- 
genteel  or  disagreeable — he  laid  up  a  few  dollars  during  his  minority,  which 
proved  a  sensible  help  to  him  on  going  into  business  for  himself— he  married 
Seasonably,  prudently,  respectably — ho  lived  frugally  and  delved  steadily 
until  it  clearly  became  him  to  live  better,  and  until  he  could  employ  his  time 
to  better  advantage  than  at  the  plow  or  over  the  bench.  Thus  his  first  thou- 
sand dollars  came  slowly  but  surely  ;  the  next  more  easily  and  readily  by  the 
help  of  the  former  ;  the  next  of  course  more  easily  still;  until  now  he  adds 
thousands  to  his  hoard  with  little  apparent  effort  or  care.  *  *  *  *  Talk 
to  such  a  man  as  this  of  the  wants  of  the  poor,  and  he  will  answer  you,  that 
their  sons  can  afford  to  smoke  and  drink  freely,  which  he  at  their  age  could 
not ;  and  that  he  now  meets  many  of  these  poor  in  the  market,  buying  luxu- 
ries that  he  cannot  afford.  Dwell  on  the  miseries  occasioned  by  a  dearth  of 
employment,  and  he  will  reply  that  he  never  encountered  any  such  obstacle 
when  poor  ;  for  when  he  could  find  nothing  better,  he  cleaned  streets  or  stables, 
and  when  he  could  not  command  twenty  dollars  a  month,  he  fell  to  work  as 
heartily  and  cheerfully  for  ten  or  five.  In  vain  will  you  seek  to  explain  to 
him  that  his  rare  faculty  both  of  doing  and  of  finding  to  do — his  wise  adapta- 
tion of  means  to  ends  in  all  circumstances,  his  frugality  and  others'  improvi- 
dence—are a  part  of  your  case — that  it  is  precisely  because  all  are  not  creat- 
ed so  handy,  so  thrifty,  so  worldly-wise,  as  himself,  that  you  seek  so  to  modify 
the  laws  and  usages  of  Society  that  a  man  may  still  labor,  steadily,  efficiently, 
and  live  comfortably,  although  his  youth  was  not  improved  to  the  utmost,  and 
though  his  can  never  be  the  hand  that  transmutes  all  it  touches  to  gold.  Fail- 
ing here,  you  urge  that  at  least  his  children  should  be  guaranteed  an  unfail- 
ing opportunity  to  learn  and  to  earn,  and  that  they,  surely,  should  not  suffer 
nor  be  stifled  in  ignorance  because  of  their  parent's  imperfections.  Still  you 
talk  in  Greek  to  the  man  of  substance,  unless  he  be  one  of  the  few  who  have, 
in  acquiring  wealth,  outgrown  the  idolatry  of  it,  and  learned  to  regard  it  truly 
as  a  means  of  doing  good,  and  not  as  an  end  of  earthly  effort.  If  he  be  a  man 
of  wealth  merely,  still  cherishing  the  spirit  which  impelled  him  to  his  life-long 
endeavor,  the  world  appears  to  him  a  vast  battle-field,  on  which  some  must 
win  victory  and  glory,  while  to  others  are  accorded  shattered  joints  and  dis- 
comfiture, and  the  former  could  not  be,  or  would  lose  their  zest,  without  the 
latter." 

Such  is  the  'case'  of  the  conservative.  So  looks  the  battle  of 
life  to  the  victor.  With  equal  complacency  the  hawk  may  philoso- 
phize while  he  is  digesting  the  chicken.  But  the  chicken  was  of  a 

15 


338  ON    THE   PLATFORM. 

* 

different  opinion;  and  died  squeaking  it  to  the  waving  tree-tops,  as 
he  was  borne  irresistibly  along  to  whcro  the  hawk  could  most  con- 
veniently devour  him. 

Mr.  Greeley  does  not  attempt  to  refute  the  argument  of  the  pros- 
perous conservative.  He  ("hvells  for  a  moment  upon  the  fact,  that 
while  life  is  a  battle  in  wliich  men  fight,  not  for,  but  against  each 
other,  the  victors  must  necessarily  be  few  and  ever  fewer,  the  vic- 
tims numberless  and  ever  more  hopeless.  Resting  his  argument 
upon  the  evident  fact  that  the  majority  of  mankind  are  poor,  unsafe, 
and  uninstructed,  he  endeavors  to  show  how  the  condition  of  the 
masses  can  be  alleviated  by  legislation,  and  how  by  their  own  co- 
operative exertions.  The  State,  he  contends,  should  ordain,  and  the 
law  should  be  fundamental,  that  no  man  may  own  more  than  a  cer- 
tain, very  limited  extent  of  land  ;  that  the  State  should  fix  a  defini- 
tion to  the  phrase,  '  a  day's  work ;'  that  the  State  should  see  to  it, 
that  no  child  grows  up  in  ignorance ;  that  the  State  is  bound  to 
prevent  the  selling  of  alcoholic  beverages.  Those  who  are  inter- 
ested in  such  subjects  will  find  them  amply  and  ably  treated  by 
Mr.  Greeley  in  his  published  writings. 

But  there  are  two  short  passages  in  the  volume  of  Hints  towards 
Reforms,  which  seem  to  contain  the  essence  of  Horace  Greeley's 
teachings  as  to  the  means  by  which  the  people  are.  to  be  elevated, 
spiritually  and  materially.  The  following  is  extracted  from  the  lec- 
ture on  the  Relations  of  Learning  to  Labor.  It  is  addressed  to  the 
educated  and  professional  classes. 

"  Why,"  asks  Horace  Greeley,  "should  not  the  educated  class  create  an  at- 
mosphere, not  merely  of  exemplary  morals  and  refined  manners,  but  of  pal- 
pable utility  and  blessing  ?  Why  should  not  the  clergyman,  the  doctor,  the 
lawyer,  of  a  country  town  be  not  merely  the  patrons  and  commenders  of 
every  generous  idea,  the  teachers  and  dispensers  of  all  that  is  novel  in  science 
or  noble  in  philosophy — examplars  of  integrity,  of  amenity,  and  of  an  all- 
pervading  humanity  to  those  around  them — but  even  in  a  more  material 
sphere  regarded  and  blessed  as  universal  benefactors  1  Why  should  they  not 
be  universally — as  I  rejoice  to  say  that  some  of  them  are — models  of  wisdom 
and  thrift  in  agriculture — their  farms  and  gardens  silent  but  most  effective 
preachers  of  the  benefits  of  forecast,  calculation,  thorough  knowledge  and 
faithful  application  ?  Nay,  more  :  Why  should  not  the  educated  class  be 
everywhere  teachers,  through  lectures,  essays,  conversations,  as  well  as  prac- 
tically, of  those  great  and  important  truths  of  nature,  which  chemistry  and 


THE    EDUCATED    CLASS.  339 

other  sciences  are  just  revealing  to  bless  the  industrial  world?  Why  should 
they  not  unobtrusively  and  freely  teach  the  farmer,  the  mechanic,  the  worker 
in  any  capacity,  how  best  to  summon  the  blind  forces  of  the  elements  to  his 
aid,  and  how  most  effectually  to  render  them  subservient  to  his  needs  ?  All 
this  is  clearly  within  the  power  of  the  educated  class,  if  truly  educated  ;  all 
this  is  clearly  within  the  sphere  of  duty  appointed  them  by  providence.  Let 
them  but  do  it,  and  they  will  stand  where  they  ought  to  stand,  at  the  head  of 
the  community,  the  directors  of  public  opinion,  and  the  universally  recog- 
nized benefactors  of  the  race. 

"  I  stand  before  an  audience  in  good  part  of  educated  men,  and  I  plead  for 
the  essential  independence  of  their  class — not  for  their  sakes  only  or  mainly, 
but  for  the  sake  of  mankind.  I  see  clearly,  or  I  am  strangely  bewildered,  a 
deep-rooted  and  wide-spreading  evil  which  is  palsying  the  influence  and  par- 
alyzing the  exertions  of  intellectual  and  even  moral  superiority  all  over  our 
country.  The  lawyer,  so  far  at  least  as  his  livelihood  is  concerned,  is  too  gen- 
erally but  a  lawyer  ;  he  must  live  by  law,  or  he  has  no  means  of  living  at  all. 
So  with  the  doctor ;  so  alas  !  with  the  pastor.  He,  too,  often  finds  himself 
surrounded  by  a  large,  expensive  family,  few  or  none  of  whom  have  been  sys- 
tematically trained  to  earn  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brows,  and  who, 
even  if  approaching  maturity  in  life,  lean  on  him  for  a  subsistence.  This  son 
must  be  sent  to  the  academy,  and  that  one  to  college  ;  this  daughter  to  an  ex- 
pensive boarding-school,  and  that  must  have  a  piano — and  all  to  be  defrayed 
from  his  salary,  which,  however  liberal,  is  scarcely  or  barely  adequate  to  meet 
the  demands  upon  it.  How  shall  this  man — for  man,  after  all,  he  is — with  ex- 
penses, and  cares,  and  debts  pressing  upon  him — hope  to  be  at  all  times 
faithful  to  the  responsibilities  of  his  high  calling  !  He  may  speak  ever  so  flu- 
ently and  feelingly  against  sin  in  the  abstract,  for  that  cannot  give  offence  to 
the  most  fastidiously  sensitive  incumbent  of  the  richly  furnished  hundred-dol- 
lar pews.  But  will  he  dare  to  rebuke  openly,  fearlessly,  specially,  the  darling 
and  decorous  vices  of  his  most  opulent  and  liberal  parishioners — to  say  to  the 
honored  dispenser  of  liquid  poison,  '  Your  trade  is  murder,  and  your  wealth 
the  price  of  perdition  !: — To  him  who  amasses  wealth  by  stinting  honest  labor 
of  its  reward  and  grinding  the  faces  of  the  poor,  '  Do  not  mock  God  by  put- 
ting your  reluctant  dollar  into  the  missionary  box — there  is  no  such  heathen 
in  New  Zealand  as  yourself !' — and  so  to  every  specious  hypocrite  around  him, 
who  patronizes  the  church  to  keep  to  windward  of  his  conscience  and  freshen 
the  varnish  on  his  character,  '  Thou  art  the  man  !'  I  tell  you,  friends  !  he 
will  not,  for  he  cannot  afford  to,  be  thoroughly  faithful !  One  in  a  thousand 
may  be,  and  hardly  more.  We  do  not  half  comprehend  the  profound  signifi- 
cance of  that  statute  of  the  old  church  which  inflexibly  enjoins  celibacy  on  her 
clergy.  The  very  existence  of  the  church,  as  a  steadfast  power  above  the 
multitude,  giving  law  to  tho  people  and  not  receiving  its  law  day  by  day  from 
them,  depends  on  its  maintenance-  And  if  we  are  ever  to  enjoy  a  Christian 


S40  ON   THE    PLATFORM. 

ministry  Which  shall  systematically,  promptly,  fearlessly  war  upon  every 
shape  and  disguise  of  evil— which  shall  fearlessly  grapple  with  war  and  slave- 
ry, and  every  loathsome  device  by  which  man  seeks  to  glut  his  appetites  at 
the  expense  of  his  brother's  well-being,  it  will  be  secured  to  us  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  very  reform  I  advocate — a  reform  which  shall  render 
the  clergyman  independent  of  his  parishioners,  and  enable  him  to  say  man- 
fully to  all,  '  You  may  cease  to  pay,  but  I  shall  not  cease  to  preach,  so  long  as 
you  have  sins  to  reprove,  and  I  have  strength  to  reprove  them  !  I  live  in 
good  part  by  the  labor  of  my  hands,  and  can  do  so  wholly  whenever  that  shall 
become  necessary  to  the  fearless  discharge  of  my  duty, 

"  A  single  illustration  more,  and  I  draw  this  long  dissertation  to  a  close.  I 
shall  speak  now  more  directly  to  facts  within  my  own  knowledge,  and  which 
have  made  on  me  a  deep  and  mournful  impression.  I  speak  to  your  experi- 
ence, too,  friends  of  the  Phenix  and  Union  Societies — to  your  future  if  not  to 
your  past  experience — and  I  entreat  you  to  heed  me  !  Every  year  sends  forth 
from  our  Colleges  an  army  of  brave  youth,  who  have  nearly  or  quite  exhausted 
their  little  means  in  procuring  what  is  termed  an  education,  and  must  now  find 
some  remunerating  employment  to  sustain  them  while  they  are  more  specially 
fitting  themselves  for  and  inducting  themselves  into  a  Profession.  Some  of 
them  find  and  are  perforce  contented  with  some  meager  clerkship ;  but  the 
great  body  of  them  turn  their  attention  to  Literature — to  the  instruction  of 
their  juniors  in  some  school  or  family,  or  to  the  instruction  of  the  world  through 
the  Press.  Hundreds  of  them  hurry  at  once  to  the  cities  and  the  journals, 
seeking  employment  as  essayists  or  collectors  of  intelligence — bright  visions 
of  Fame  in  the  foreground,  and  the  gaunt  wolf  Famine  hard  at  their  heels. 
Alas  for  them  !  they  do  not  see  that  the  very  circumstances  under  which  they 
seek  admission  to  the  calling  they  have  chosen  almost  forbid  the  idea  of  their 
succeeding  in  it.  They  do  not  approach  the  public  with  thoughts  struggling 
for  utterance,  but  with  stomachs  craving  bread.  They  seek  the  Press,  not  that 
they  may  proclaim  through  it  what  it  would  cost  their  lives  to  repress,  but 
that  they  may  preserve  their  souls  to  their  bodies,  at  some  rate.  Do  you  not 
see  under  what  immense  disadvantages  one  of  this  band  enters  upon  his  selected 
vocation,  if  he  has  the  rare  fortune  to  find  or  make  a  place  in  it?  He  is  sur- 
rounded, elbowed  on  every  side  by  anxious  hundreds,  eager  to  obtain  employ- 
ment on  any  terms ;  he  must  write  not  what  he  feels,  but  what  another  needs ; 
must  '  regret'  or  '  rejoice'  to  order,  working  for  the  day,  and  not  venturing  to 
utter  a  thought  which  the  day  does  not  readily  approve.  And  can  you  fancy 
that  is  the  foundation  on  which  to  build  a  lofty  and  durable  renown— a  brave 
and  laudable  success  of  any  kind  1  I  tell  you  no,  young  friends  !— the  farthest 
from  it  possible.  There  is  scarcely  any  position  more  perilous  to  generous 
impulses  and  lofty  aims— scarcely  any  which  more  eminently  threatens  to  sink 
the  Man  in  the  mere  schemer  and  striver  for  subsistence  and  selfish  gratifica- 
tion. I  say,  then,  in  deep  earnestness,  to  every  youth  who  hopes  or  desires  to 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  LABOR.  841 

become  useful  to  his  Race  or  in  any  degree  eminent  through  Literature,  Seek 
first  of  all  things  a  position  of  pecuniary  independence  ;  learn  to  lire  by  the 
labor  of  your  hands,  the  sweat  of  your  face,  as  a  necessary  step  toward  the 
career  you  contemplate.  If  you  can  earn  but  three  shillings  a  day  by  rugged 
yet  moderate  toil,  learn  to  live  contentedly  on  two  shillings,  and  so  preserve 
your  mental  faculties  fresh  and  unworn  to  read,  to  observe,  to  think,  thus  pre- 
paring yourself  for  the  ultimate  path  you  have  chosen.  At  length,  when  a 
mind  crowded  with  discovered  or  elaborated  truths  w ill  have  utterance,  begin 
to  write  sparingly  and  tersely  for  the  nearest  suitable  periodical — no  matter 
how  humble  and  obscure — if  the  thought  is  in  you,  it  will  find  its  way  to  those 
who  need  it.  Seek  not  compensation  for  this  utterance  until  compensation 
shall  seek  you ;  then  accept  it  if  an  object,  and  not  involving  too  great  sacri- 
fices of  independence  and  disregard  of  more  immediate  duties.  In  this  way 
alone  can  something  like  the  proper  dignity  of  the  Literary  Character  be  re- 
stored and  maintained.  But  while  every  man  who  either  is  or  believes  him- 
self capable  of  enlightening  others,  appears  only  anxious  to  sell  his  faculty  at 
the  earliest  moment  and  for  the  largest  price,  I  cannot  hope  that  the  Public 
will  be  induced  to  regard  very  profoundly  either  the  lesson  or  the  teacher." 

Such  is  the  substance  of  Horace  Greeley's  message  to  the  literary 
and  refined. 

I  turn  now  to  the  lecture  on  the  Organization  of  Labor,  and 
select  from  it  a  short  narrative,  the  perusal  of  which  will  enable 
the  reader  to  understand  the  nature  of  Mr.  Greeley's  advice  to 
working-men.  The  story  may  become  historically  valuable ;  be- 
cause the  principle  which  it  illustrates  may  be  destined  to  play  a 
great  part  in  the  Future  of  Industry.  It  may  be  true,  that  the 
despotic  principle  is  not  essential  to  permanence  and  prosperity, 
though  nothing  has  yet  attained  a  condition  of  permanent  pros- 
perity except  by  virtue  of  it.  But  here  is  the  narrative,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  profound  consideration  : 

"  The  first  if  not  most  important  movement  to  be  made  in  advance  of  our 
present  Social  position  is  the  ORGANIZATION  OF  LABOR.  This  is  to  be  effect- 
ed by  degrees,  by  steps,  by  installments.  I  propose  here,  in  place  of  setting 
forth  any  formal  theory  or  system  of  Labor  Reform,  simply  to  narrate  what  I 
saw  and  heard  of  the  history  and  state  of  an  experiment  now  in  progress  near 
Cincinnati,  and  which  differs  in  no  material  respects  from  some  dozen  or  score 
of  others  already  commenced  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  not  to 
speak  of  twenty  times  as  many  established  by  the  Working  Men  of  Paris  and 
other  portions  of  France. 

"  The  business  of  IRON-MOLDING,  casting,  or  whatever  it  may  be  called, 


342  ON    THE    PLATFORM. 

is  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  thrifty  of  the  manufactures  of  Cincinnati,  and 
I  believe  the  labor  employed  therein  is  quite  as  well  rewarded  as  Labor  gen- 
erally. It  is  entirely  paid  by  the  piece,  according  to  an  established  scale  of 
prices,  so  that  each  workman,  in  whatever  department  of  the  business,  is  paid 
according  to  his  individual  skill  and  industry,  not  a  rough  average  of  what  is 
supposed  to  be  earned  by  himself  and  others,  as  is  the  case  where  work  is 
paid  for  at  so  much  per  day,  week  or  month.  I  know  no  reason  why  the  Iron- 
Molders  of  Cincinnati  should  not  have  been  as  well  satisfied  with  the  old 
ways  as  anybody  else. 

"  Yet  the  system  did  not  'work  well,'  even  for  them.  Beyond  the  general 
unsteadiness  of  demand  for  Labor  and  the  ever-increasing  pressure  of  compe- 
tition, there  was  a  pretty  steadily  recurring  '  dull  season,'  commencing  about 
the  first  of  January,  when  the  Winter's  call  for  stoves,  <fcc.,  had  been  sup- 
plied, and  holding  on  for  two  or  three  months,  or  until  the  Spring  business 
opened.  In  this  hiatus,  the  prior  savings  of  the  Holder  were  generally  con- 
sumed— sometimes  less,  but  perhaps  oftener  more — so  that,  taking  one  with 
another,  they  did  not  lay  up  ten  dollars  per  annum.  By-and-by  came  a  col- 
lisi'on  respecting  wages  and  a  'strike,'  wherein  the  Journeymen  tried  the 
experiment  of  running  their  heads  against  a  stone  wall  for  months.  How 
they  came  out  of  it,  no  matter  whether  victors  or  vanquished,  the  intelligent 
reader  will  readily  guess.  I  never  heard  of  any  evils  so  serious  and  com- 
plicated as  those  which  eat  out  the  heart  of  Labor  being  cured  by  doing 
nothing. 

"  At  length — but  I  believe  after  the  strike  had  somehow  terminated — some 
of  the  Journeymen  Holders  said  to  each  other  :  '  Standing  idle  is  not  the 
true  cure  for  our  grievances  :  why  not  employ  ourselves  ?'  They  finally  con- 
cluded to  try  it,  and,  in  the  dead  of  the  Winter  of  1847-8,  when  a  great  many 
of  their  trade  were  out  of  employment,  the  business  being  unusually  depressed, 
they  formed  an  association  under  the  General  Hanufacturing  Law  of  Ohio 
(which  is  very  similar  to  that  of  New  York),  and  undertook  to  establish  the 
JOURNEYMEN  HOLDERS'  UNION  FOUNDRY.  There  were  about  twenty  of 
them  who  put  their  hands  to  the  work,  and  the  whole  amount  of  capital  they 
could  scrape  together  was  two  thousand  one  hundred  dollars,  held  in  shares 
of  twenty-five  dollars  each.  With  this  they  purchased  an  eligible  piece  of 
ground,  directly  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  eight  miles  below  Cincinnati,  with 
which  '  the  Whitewater  Canal'  also  affords  the  means  of  ready  and  cheap 
communication.  With  their  capital  they  bought  some  patterns,  flasks,  an  en- 
gine and  tools,  paid  for  their  ground,  and  five  hundred  dollars  on  their  first 
building,  which  was  erected  for  them  partly  on  long  credit  by  a  firm  in  Cin- 
cinnati, who  knew  that  the  property  was  a  perfect  security  for  so  much  of  its 
cost,  and  decline  taking  credit  for  any  benevolence  in  the  matter  Their  iron, 
coal,  <fcc.,  to  commence  upon  were  entirely  and  necessarily  bought  on  credit. 

"  Having  elected  Directors,  a  Foreman,  and  a  Business  Agent  (the  last  to 


A  NARRATIVE  FOR  WORKINGMEN.  343 

open  a  store  in  Cincinnati,  buy  stock,  sell  wares,  &c.)  the  Journeymen's  Union 
set  to  work,  in  August,  1848.  Its  accommodations  were  then  meager  ;  they 
have  since  been  gradually  enlarged  by  additions,  until  their  Foundry  is  now 
the  most  commodious  on  the  river.  Their  stock  of  patterns,  flasks,  &c.,  has 
grown  to  be  one  of  the  best ;  while  their  arrangements  for  unloading  coal  and 
iron,  sending  off"  stoves,  coking  coal,  &c.,  &c.,  are  almost  perfect.  They  com- 
menced with  ten  associates  actually  at  work  ;  the  number  has  gradually  grown 
to  forty ;  and  there  is  not  a  better  set  of  workmen  in  any  foundry  in  America. 
I  profess  to  know  a  little  as  to  the  quality  of  castings,  and  there  are  no  better 
than  may  be  seen  in  the  Foundry  of  { Industry '  and  its  store  at  Cincinnati. 
And  there  is  obvious  reason  for  this  in  the  fact  that  every  workman  is  a  pro- 
prietor in  the  concern,  and  it  is  his  interest  to  turn  out  not  only  his  own  work 
in  the  best  order,  but  to  take  care  that  all  the  rest  is  of  like  quality.  All  is 
carefully  examined  before  it  is  sent  away,  and  any  found  imperfect  is  con- 
demned, the  loss  falling  on  the  causer  of  it.  But  there  is  seldom  any  deserv- 
ing condemnation. 

"  A  strict  account  is  kept  with  every  member,  who  is  credited  for  all  he  does 
according  to  the  Cincinnati  Scale  of  Prices,  paid  so  much  as  he  needs  of  his 
earnings  in  money,  the  balance  being  devoted  to  the  extension  of  the  concern 
and  the  payment  of  its  debts,  and  new  stock  issued  to  him  therefor.  When- 
ever the  debts  shall  have  been  paid  off,  and  an  adequate  supply  of  implements, 
teams,  stock,  <fec.,  bought  or  provided  for,  they  expect  to  pay  every  man  his 
earnings  weekly  in  cash,  as  of  course  they  may.  I  hope,  however,  they  will 
prefer  to  buy  more  land,  erect  thereon  a  most  substantial  and  commodious 
dwelling,  surround  it  with  a  garden,  shade-trees,  &c.,  and  resolve  to  live  as 
well  as  work  like  brethren.  There  are  few  uses  to  which  a  member  can  put  a 
hundred  dollars  which  might  not  as  well  be  subserved  by  seventy-five  if  the 
money  of  the  whole  were  invested  together. 

"  The  members  were  earning  when  I  visited  them  an  average  of  fifteen  dol- 
lars per  week,  and  meant  to  keep  doing  so.  Of  course  they  work  hard.  Many 
of  them  live  inside  of  four  dollars  per  week,  none  go  beyond  eight.  Their 
Business  Agent  is  one  of  themselves,  who  worked  with  them  in  the  Foundry 
for  some  months  after  it  was  started.  He  has  often  been  obliged  to  report,  '  I 
can  pay  you  no  money  this  week,'  and  never  heard  a  murmur  in  reply.  On 
one  occasion  he  went  down  to  say,  '  There  are  my  books ;  you  see  what  I  have 
received  and  where  most  of  it  has  gone  :  here  is  one  hundred  dollars,  which  is 
all  there  is  left.1  The  members  consulted,  calculated,  and  made  answer :  'We 
can  pay  our  board  so  as  to  get  through  another  week  with  fifty  dollars,  and 
you  had  better  take  back  the  other  fifty,  for  the  business  may  need  it  before 
the  week  is  through.'  When  I  was  there,  there  had  been  an  Iron  note  to  pay, 
ditto  a  Coal,  and  a  boat-load  of  coal  to  lay  in  for  the  winter,  sweeping  off  all 
the  money,  so  that  for  more  than  three  weeks  no  man  had  had  a  dollar.  Yet 
no  one  had  thought  of  complaining,  for  all  knew  that  the  delay  was  dictated, 


344  CrS    TIFE    PT.ATFORM', 

not  by  another's  interest,  but  their  own.  They  knew,  too,  that  the  assurance 
of  their  payment  did  not  depend  on  the  frugality  or  extravagance  of  some 
employer,  who  might  swamp  the  proceeds  of  his  business  and  their  labor  in  an 
unlucky  speculation,  or  a  sumptuous  dwelling,  leaving  them  to  whistle  for 
their  money.  There  were  their  year's  earnings  visibly  around  them  in  stoves 
and  hollow  ware,  for  which  they  had  abundant  and  eager  demand  in  Cincin- 
nati, but  which  a  break  in  the  canal  had  temporarily  kept  back  ;  in  iron  and 
coal  for  the  winter's  work ;  in  the  building  over  their  heads  and  the  imple- 
ments in  their  hands.  And  while  other  molders  have  had  work  '  off  and  on/ 
according  to  the  state  of  the  business,  no  member  of  the  Journeymen's  Union* 
has  stood  idle  a  day  for  want  of  work  since  their  Foundry  was  first  started. 
Of  course,  as  their  capital  increases,  the  danger  of  being  compelled  to  suspend 
work  at  any  future  day  grows  less  and  less  continually. 

"The  ultimate  capital  of  the  Journeymen's  Union  Foundry  (on  the  pre- 
sumption that  the  Foundry  is  to  stand  by  itself,  leaving  every  member  to  pro- 
vide his  own  home,  &c.)  is  to  be  eighteen  thousand  dollars,  of  which  sever* 
thousand  dollars  has  already  been  paid  in,  most  of  it  in  labor.  The  remain- 
der is  all  subscribed  by  the  several  associates,  and  is  to  be  paid  ia  labor  as  fas-S 
as  possible.  That  done,  every  man  may  be  paid  in  cash  weekly  fop  his  work, 
and  a  dividend  on  his  stock  at  the  close  of  each  business  year.  The  workers 
have  saved  and  invested  from  three  hundred  dollars  to  six  hundred  dollars 
each  since  their  commencement  in  August  of  last  year,  though  those  who 
have  joined  since  the  start  have  of  course  earned  less.  Few  or  none  had  laid 
by  so  much  in  five  to  ten  years'  working  for  others  as  they  have  in  one  year 
working  for  themselves.  The  total  value  of  their  products  up  to  the  time  of 
my  visit  is  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  they  were  then  making  at  the  rate  oS 
five  thousand  dollars'  worth  per  month,  which  they  do  not  mean  to  diminish. 
All  the  profits  of  the  business,  above  the  cost  of  doing  the  work  at  journey- 
men's wages,  will  be  distributed  among  the  stockholders  in  dividends.  The 
officers  of  the  Union  are  a  Managing  Agent,  Foreman  of  the  Foundry,  and 
five  Directors,  chosen  annually,  but  who  can  be  changed  meantime  in  case  of 
necessity.  A  Reading-Room  and  Library  were  to  be  started  direetly ;  a  spa- 
cious boarding-house  (though  probably  not  owned  by  the  Union)  will  go  up 
this  season.  No  liquor  is  sold  within  a  long  distance  of  the  Union,  and  there 
is  little  or  no  demand  for  any.  Those  original  members  of  the  Union  who 
were  least  favorable  to  Temperance  have  seen  fit  to  sell  out  and  go  away. 

"  Now  is  it  reasonable  that  the  million  or  so  of  hireling  laborers  throughout 
our  country  who  have  work  when  it  suits  others'  convenience  to  employ  them, 
and  must  stand  idle  perforce  when  it  does  not,  can  read  the  above  simple  nar- 
ration— which  I  have  tried  to  render  as  lucid  as  possible — and  not  be  moved 
to  action  thereby  1  Suppose  they  receive  all  they  earn  when  employed — 
which  of  course  they  generally  do  not,  or  how  could  employers  grow  rich  by 
merely  buying  their  labor  and  selling  it  again  1 — should  not  the  simple  fact 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  345 

that  these  Associated  Workers  never  lack  employment  when  they  desire  it, 
and  never  ask  any  master's  leave  to  refrain  from  working  when  they  see  fit, 
arrest  public  attention  ?  Who  is  such  a  slave  in  soul  that  he  would  not  rather 
be  an  equal  member  of  a  commonwealth  than  the  subject  of  a  despotism  1 
Who  would  not  like  to  taste  the  sweets  of  Liberty  on  work-days  as  well  as 
holidays  ?  Is  there  a  creature  so  abject  that  he  considers  all  this  mere  poetry 
and  moonshine,  which  a  little  hard  experience  will  dissipate  ?  Suppose  the 
Cincinnati  Iron-Holders'  Association  should  break  down,  either  through  some 
defect  in  its  organization  or  some  dishonesty  or  other  misconduct  on  the  part 
of  one  or  more  of  its  members — what  would  that  prove  7  Would  it  any  more 
prove  the  impracticability  of  Industrial  Associations  than  the  shipwreck  and 
death  of  Columbus,  had  such  a  disaster  occurred  on  his  second  or  third  voyage 
to  America,  would  have  disproved  the  existence  of  the  New  World  1 

The  story  is  incomplete ;  the  catastrophe  is  wanting.  It  can  be 
told  in  one  word,  and  that  word  is  failure!  The  Union  existed 
about  two  years.  It  then  broke  up,  not,  as  I  am  very  positively  as- 
sured, from  any  defect  in  the  system  upon  which  it  was  conducted  ; 
but  from  a  total  stagnation  in  the  market,  which  not  only  ruined  the 
co-operators,  but  others  engaged  in  the  same  business.  They  made 
castings  on  the  co-operative  principle,  made  them  well,  made  them 
as  long  as  anybody  would  buy  them ;  then — stopped. 

The  reader  of  the  volume  from  which  I  have  quoted  will  find  in 
it  much  that  does  less  honor  to  the  author's  head  than  his  heart. 
But  I  defy  any  one  to  read  it,  and  not  respect  the  man  that  wrote 
it.  The  kernel  of  the  book  is  sound.  The  root  of  the  matter  is 
there.  It  shows  Horace  Greeley  to  be  a  man  whose  interest  in  hu- 
man welfare  is  sincere,  habitual,  innate,  and  indestructible.  We  all 
know  what  is  the  usual  course  of  a  person  who — as  the  stupid 
phrase  is — '  rises'  from  the  condition  of  a  manual  laborer  to  a  posi- 
tion of  influence  and  wealth.  If  our  own  observation  were  not 
sufficient,  Thackeray  and  Curtis  have  told  the  whole  world  the  sorry 
history  of  the  modern  snob  ;  how  he  ignores  his  origin,  and  bends 
all  his  little  soul  to  the  task  of  cutting  a  figure  in  the  circles  to 
which  he  has  gained  admittance. 

Twenty  men  are  suffocating  in  a  dungeon — one  man,  by  climb- 
ing upon  the  shoulders  of  some  of  his  companions,  and  assisted  up 
still  higher  by  the  strength  of  others,  escapes,  breathes  the  pure  air 
of  heaven,  exults  in  freedom  !  Does  he  not,  instantly  and  with  all 

15* 


346  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

his  might,  strive  for  the  rescue  of  his  late  companions,  still  suffer- 
ing  ?  Is  he  not  prompt  with  rope,  and  pole,  and  ladder,  and  food, 
and  cheering  words  ?  No— the  caitiff  wanders  off  to  seek  his  pleas- 
ure, and  makes  haste  to  remove  from  his  person,  and  his  memory 
too,  every  trace  of  his  recent  misery.  This  it  is  to  be  a  snob. 
No  treason  like  this  clings  to  the  skirts  of  Horace  Greeley.  He  has 
stood  by  his  Order.  The  landless,  the  hireling,  the  uninstructed— 
he  was  their  Companion  once — he  is  their  Champion  now. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

The  Voyage  out — First  impressions  of  England— Opening  of  the  Exhibition — Charac- 
teristic observations— He  attends  a  grand  Banquet— He  sees  the  Sights— He  speaks 
at  Exeter  Hall — The  Play  at  Devonshire  House — Robert  Owen's  birth-day — Horace 
Greeley  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons— He  throws  light  upon  the 
subject — Vindicates  the  American  Press— Journey  to  Paris — The  Sights  of  Paris — 
The  Opera  and  Ballet— A  false  Prophet— His  opinion  of  the  French— Journey  to 
Italy— Anecdote— A  nap  in  the  Diligence— Arrival  at  Rome— In  the  Galleries— 
Scene  in  the  Coliseum — To  England  again — Triumph  of  the  American  Reaper — A 
week  in  Ireland  and  Scotland— His  opinion  of  the  English— Homeward  Bound— 
His  arrival— The  Extra  Tribune. 

"  THE  thing  called  Crystal  Palace !"  This  was  the  language 
which  the  intense  and  spiritual  Carlyle  thought  proper  to  employ 
on  the  only  occasion  when  he  alluded  to  the  World's  Fair  of  1851, 
And  Horace  Greeley  appears,  at  first,  to  have  thought  little  of 
Prince  Albert's  scheme,  or  at  least  to  have  taken  little  interest  in  it. 
"We  mean,"  he  said,  "  to  attend  the  World's  Fair  at  London,  with 
very  little  interest  in  the  show  generally,  or  the  people  whom  it 
will  collect,  but  with  special  reference  to  a  subject  which  seems  to 
us  of  great  and  general  importance — namely,  the  improvements  re- 
cently made,  or  now  being  made,  in  the  modes  of  dressing  flax  and 
hemp  and  preparing  them  to  be  spun  and  woven  by  steam  or  water- 
power."  "  Only  adequate  knowledge,"  he  thought,  was  necessary 
to  give  a  new  and  profitable  direction  to  Free  Labor,  both  agricul- 
tural and  manufacturing." 


THE    VOYAGE    OUT.  347 

Accordingly,  Horace  Greeley  was  one  of  the  two  thousand 
Americans  who  crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  purpose  of  attending 
the  World's  Fair,  and,  like  many  others,  he  seized  the  opportuni- 
ty to  make  a  hurried  tour  of  the  most  accessible  parts  of  the  Eu- 
ropean Continent.  It  was  the  longest  holiday  of  his  life.  Holi- 
day is  not  the  word,  however.  His  sky  was  changed,  but  not  the 
man ;  and  his  labors  in  Europe  were  as  incessant  and  arduous  as 
they  had  been  in  America,  nor  unlike  them  in  kind.  A  strange  ap- 
parition he  among  the  elegant  and  leisurely  Europeans.  Since 
Franklin's  day,  no  American  had  appeared  in  Europe  whose  '  style' 
had  in  it  so  little  of  the  European  as  his,  nor  one  who  so  well  and  so 
consistently  represented  some  of  the  best  sides  of  the  American 
character.  He  proved  to  be  one  of  the  Americans  who  can  calmly 
contemplate  a  duke,  and  value  him  neither  the  less  nor  the  more  on 
account  of  his  dukeship.  Swiftly  he  travelled.  Swiftly  we  pursue 
him. 

At  noon  on  Saturday,  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1851,  the  steamship 
Baltic  moved  from  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  Canal-street,  with  Hor- 
ace Greeley  on  board  as  one  of  her  two  hundred  passengers.  It 
was  a  chilly,  dismal  day,  with  a  storm  brewing  and  lowering  in  the 
north-east.  The  wharf  was  covered  with  people,  as  usual  on  sailing 
days ;  and  when  the  huge  vessel  was  seen  to  be  in  motion,  and  the 
inevitable  White  Coat  was  observed  among  the  crowd  on  her  deck, 
a  hearty  cheer  broke  from  a  group  of  Mr.  Greeley's  personal 
friends,  and  was  caught  up  by  the  rest  of  the  spectators.  He 
took  off  his  hat  and  waved  response  and  farewell,  while  the 
steamer  rolled  away  like  a  black  cloud,  and  settled  down  upon  the 
river. 

The  passage  was  exceedingly  disagreeable,  though  not  tempest- 
uous. The  north-easter  that  hung  over  the  city  when  the  steamer 
sailed  '  clung  to  her  like  a  brother'  all  the  way  over,  varying  a 
point  or  two  now  and  then,  but  not  changing  to  a  fair  wind  for 
more  than  six  hours.  Before  four  o'clock  on  the  first  day — before 
the  steamer  had  gone  five  miles  from  the  Hook,  the  pangs  of  sea- 
sickness came  over  the  soul  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  laid  him  pros- 
trate. At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  a  friend,  \vho  found  him  in 
the  smoker's  room,  helpless,  hopeless,  and  recumbent,  persuaded  and 
assisted  him  to  go  below,  where  he  had  strength  only  to  Tin- boot 


348  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

and  sway  into  his  berth.  There  he  remained  for  twenty-four  hours, 
He  then  managed  to  crawl  upon  deck  ;  but  a  perpetual  head-wind 
and  cross-sea  were  too  much  for  BO  delicate  a  system  as  his,  and  he 
enjoyed  not  one  hour  of  health  and  happiness  during  the  passage. 
His  opinion  of  the  sea,  therefore,  is  unfavorable.  He  thought,  that 
a  sea-voyage  of  twelve  days  was  about  equal,  in  the  amount  of 
misery  it  inflicts,  to  two  months'  hard  labor  in  the  State  Prison, 
or  to  the  average  agony  of  five  years  of  life  on  shore.  It  was  a 
consolation  to  him,  however,  even  when  most  sick  and  impatient, 
to  think  that  the  gales  which  were  so  adverse  to  the  pleasure- 
seekers  of  the  Baltic,  were  wafting  the  emigrant  ships,  which  it 
hourly  passed,  all  the  more  swiftly  to  the  land  of  opportunity  and 
hope.  His  were  '  light  afflictions'  compared  with  those  of  the  mul- 
titudes crowded  into  their  stifling  steerages. 

At  seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  twenty-eighth 
of  April,  under  sullen  skies  and  a  dripping  rain,  the  passengers  of 
the  Baltic  were  taken  ashore  at  Liverpool  in  a  steam-tug,  which  in 
New  York,  thought  Mr.  Greeley,  would  be  deemed  unworthy  to 
convey  market-garbage.  With  regard  to  the  weather,  he  tells  us, 
in  his  first  letter  from  England,  that  he  had  become  reconciled  to 
sullen  skies  and  dripping  rains :  he  wanted  to  see  the  thing  out,  and 
would  have  taken  amiss  any  deceitful  smiles  of  fortune,  now  that 
he  had  learned  to  dispense  with  her  favors.  He  advised  Ameri- 
cans, on  the  day  of  then-  departure  for  Europe,  to  take  a  long,  ear- 
nest gaze  at  the  sun,  that  they  might  know  him  again  on  their  re- 
turn ;  for  the  thing  called  Sun  in  England  was  only  shown  occasion- 
ally, and  bore  a  nearer  resemblance  to  a  boiled  turnip  than  to  its 
American  namesake. 

Liverpool  the  traveller  scarcely  saw,  and  it  impressed  him  un- 
favorably. The  working-class  seemed  "  exceedingly  ill-dressed, 
stolid,  abject,  and  hopeless."  Extortion  and  beggary  appeared  very 
prevalent.  In  a  day  or  two  he  was  off  to  London  by  the  Trent 
Yalley  Railroad,  which  passes  through  one  of  the  finest  agricultural 
districts  in  England. 

To  most  men  their  first  ride  in  a  foreign  country  is  a  thrilling 
and  memorable  delight.  Whatever  Horace  Greeley  may  have  felt 
on  his  journey  from  Liverpool  to  London,  his  remarks  .upon  what 
he  saw  are  the  opposite  of  rapturous ;  yet,  as  they  are  character- 


OPENING    OF   THE    EXHIBITION.  349 

istic,  they  are  interesting.  The  mind  of  that  man  is  a  '  study,'  who, 
when  he  has  passed  through  two  hundred  miles  of  the  enchanting 
rural  scenery  of  England,  and  sits  down  to  write  a  letter  about  it, 
begins  by  describing  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  continues  by 
telling  us  that  much  of  the  land  he  saw  is  held  at  five  hundred 
dollars  per  acre,  that  two-thirds  of  it  was  '  in  grass,'  that  there  are 
fewer  fruit-trees  on  the  two  hundred  miles  of  railroad  between 
Liverpool  and  London,  than  on  the  forty  miles  of  the  Harlem  rail- 
road north  of  White  Plains,  that  the  wooded  grounds  looked 
meager  and  scanty,  and  that  the  western  towns  of  America  ought 
to  take  warning  from  this  fact  and  preserve  some  portions  of  the 
primeval  forest,  which,  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  renewed  by 
cultivation  in  their  original  grandeur.  '  The  eye  sees  what  it 
brought  with  it  the  means  of  seeing,'  and  these  practical  observa- 
tions are  infinitely  more  welcome  than  affected  sentiment,  or  even 
than  genuine  sentiment  inadequately  expressed.  Besides,  the  sug- 
gestion with  regard  to  the  primeval  forests  is  good  and  valuable. 
On  his  arrival  in  London,  Mr.  Greeley  drove  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
John  Chapman,  the  well-known  publisher,  with  whom  he  resided 
during  his  stay  in  the  metropolis. 

On  the  first  of  May  the  Great  Exhibition  was  opened,  and  our 
traveler  saw  the  show  both  within  and  without  the  Crystal  Palace. 
The  day  was  a  fine  one — for  England.  He  thought  the  London  sun- 
shine a  little  superior  in  brilliancy  to  American  moonlight;  and 
wondered  how  the  government  could  have  the  conscience  to  tax 
such  light.  The  royal  procession,  he  says,  was  not  much ;  a  parade 
of  the  New  York  Firemen  or  Odd  Fellows  could  beat  it ;  but  then 
it  was  a  new  thing  to  see  a  Queen,  a  court,  and  an  aristocracy  doing 
honor  to  industry.  He  was  glad  to  see  the  queen  in  the  pageant, 
though  he  could  not  but  feel  that  her  vocation  was  behind  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  age,  and  likely  to  go  out  of  fashion  at  no  distant  day ; 
but  not  through  her  fault.  He  could  not  see,  however,  what  the 
Master  of  the  Buck-hounds,  the  Groom  of  the  Stole,  the  Mistress  of 
the  Robes,  and  '  such  uncouth  fossils,'  had  to  do  with  a  grand  ex- 
hibition of  the  fruits  of  industry.  The  Mistress  of  the  Robes  made 
no  robes ;  the  Ladies  of  the  Bed-chamber  did  nothing  with  beds  but 
sleep  on  them.  The  posts  of  honor  nearest  the  Queen's  person  ought 
to  have  been  confided  to  the  descendants  of  Watt  and  Arkwright,, 


350  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

4  Napoleon's  real  conquerors ;'  while  the  foreign  ambassadors  should 
have  been  the  sons  of  Fitch,  Fulton,  "Whitney,  Daguerre  and  Morse ; 
and  the  places  less  conspicuous  should  have  been  assigned,  not  to 
Gold-stick,  Silver-stick,  and  '  kindred  absurdities,'  but  to  the  Queen's 
gardeners,  horticulturists,  carpenters,  upholsterers  and  milliners! 
(Fancy  Gold-stick  reading  this  passage !)  The  traveler,  however, 
even  at  such  a  moment  is  not  unmindful  of  similar  nuisances  across 
the  ocean,  and  pauses  to  express  the  hope  that  we  may  be  able,  be- 
fore the  century  is  out,  to  elect  *  something  else'  than  Generals  to 
the  Presidency. 

Before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Greeley  in  London,  he  had  been  named 
by  the  American  Commissioner  as  a  member  of  the  Jury  on  Hard- 
ware, etc.  There  were  so  few  Americans  in  London  at  the  time, 
who  were  not  exhibitors,  that  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline 
the  duties  of  the  proffered  post,  and  accordingly  devoted  nearly 
everyday,  from  ten  o'clock  to  three,  for  a  month,  to  an  examination 
of  the  articles  upon  whose  comparative  merits  the  jury  were  to  de- 
cide. Few  men  would  have  spent  their  first  month  in  Europe  in 
the  discharge  of  a  duty  so  onerous,  so  tedious,  and  so  likely  to  be 
thankless.  His  reward,  however,  was,  that  his  official  position 
opened  to  him  sources  of  information,  gave  him  facilities  for  obser- 
vation, and  enabled  him  to  form  acquaintances,  that  would  not  have 
been  within  the  compass  of  a  mere  spectator  of  the  Exhibition. 
Among  other  advantages,  it  procured  him  a  seat  at  the  banquet 
given  at  Richmond  by  the  London  Commissioners  to  the  Commis- 
sioners from  foreign  countries,  a  feast  presided  over  by  Lord  Ash- 
burton,  and  attended  by  an  ample  representation  of  the  science, 
talent,  worth  and  rank  of  both  hemispheres.  It  was  the  particular 
desire  of  Lord  Ashburton  that  the  health  of  Mr.  Paxton,  the  Archi- 
tect of  the  Palace,  should  be  proposed  by  an  American,,  and  Mr. 
Riddle,  the  American  Commissioner,  designated  Horace  Greeley  for 
that  service.  The  speech  delivered  by  him  on  that  occasion,  since 
it  is  short,  appropriate,  and  characteristic,  may  properly  have  a 
place  here.  Mr.  Greeley,  being  called  upon  by  the  Chairman,  spoke 
as  follows : 

"  In  my  own  land,  my  lords  and  gentlemen,  where  Nature  is  still  so  rugged 
and  unconquered,  where  Population  is  yet  so  scanty  and  the  demands  for  hu- 
man exertion  are  so  various  and  urgent,  it  is  but  natural  that  we  should  ren- 


HE    ATTENDS    A    GREAT   BANQUET.  351 

der  marked  honor  to  Labor,  and  especially  to  those  who  by  invention  or  dis- 
covery contribute  to  shorten  the  processes  and  increase  the  efficiency  of  Indus* 
try.  It  is  but  natural,  therefore,  that  this  grand  conception  of  a  comparison 
of  the  state  of  Industry  in  all  Nations,,  by  means  of  a  World's  Exhibition, 
should  there  have  been  received  and  canvassed  with  a  lively  and  general  in- 
terest,— an  interest  which  is  not  measured  by  the  extent  of  our  contributions. 
Ours  is  still  one  of  the  youngest  of  Nations,  with  few  large  accumulations  of 
the  fruits  of  manufacturing  activity  or  artistic  skill,  and  these  so  generally 
needed  for  use  that  we  were  not  likely  to  send  them  three  thousand  miles 
away,  merely  for  show.  It  is  none  the  less  certain  that  the  progress  of  this 
great  Exhibition,  from  its  original  conception  to  that  perfect  realization  which 
we  here  commemorate,  has  been  watched  and  discussed  not  more  earnestly 
throughout  the  saloons  of  Europe,  than  by  the  smith's  forge  and  the  mechanic's 
bench  in  America.  Especially  the  hopes  and  fears  alternately  predominant  on 
this  side  with  respect  to  the  edifice  required  for  the  Exhibition — the  doubts  as 
to  the  practicability  of  erecting  one  sufficiently  capacious  and  commodious  to 
contain  and  display  the  contributions  of  the  whole  world — the  apprehension 
that  it  could  not  be  rendered  impervious  to  water — the  confident  assertions  that 
it  could  not  be  completed  in  season  for  opening  the  Exhibition  on  the  first  of 
May  as  promised — all  found  an  echo  on  our  shores  ;  and  now  the  tidings  that 
all  these  doubts  have  been  dispelled,  these  difficulties  removed,  will  have  been 
hailed  there  with  unmingled  satisfaction. 

"I  trust,  gentlemen,  that  among  the  ultimate  fruits  of  this  Exhibition  we 
are  to  reckon  a  wider  and  deeper  appreciation  of  the  worth  of  Labor,  and 
especially  of  those  '  Captains  of  Industry'  by  whose  conceptions  and  achieve- 
ments our  Race  is  so  rapidly  borne  onward  in  its  prdgress  to  a  loftier  and 
more  benignant  destiny.  We  shall  not  be  likely  to  appreciate  less  fully  the 
merits  of  the  wise  Statesmen,  by  whose  measures  a  People's  thrift  and  hap- 
piness are  promoted — of  the  brave  Soldier,  who  joyfully  pours  out  his  blood  in 
defense  of  the  rights  or  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of  his  Country — of  the 
Sacred  Teacher,  by  whose  precepts  and  example  our  steps  are  guided  in  the 
pathway  to  heaven — if  we  render  fit  honor  also  to  those  'Captains  of  Industry' 
whose  tearless  victories  redden  no  river  and  whose  conquering  march  is  un- 
marked by  the  tears  of  the  widow  and  the  cries  of  the  orphan.  I  give  you, 
therefore, 

"  The  Health  of  Joseph  Paxton,  Esq.,  Designer  of  the  Crystal  Palace — 
Honor  to  him  whose  genius  does  honor  to  Industry  and  to  Man  !" 

This  speech  was  not  published  in  the  newspaper  report  of  the 
banquet,  nor  was  the  name  of  the  speaker  even  mentioned.  The 
omission  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  retort  upon  the  London  Times 
its  assertion,  that  with  the  English  press,  'fidelity  in  reporting  is  a 
religion.'  The  speech  was  written  out  by  Mr.  Greeley  himself,  and 


352  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

published  in  the  Tribune.  It  must  be  confessed,  that  the  graduate 
of  a  Vermont  printing-office  made  a  creditable  appearance  before 
the  'lords  and  gentlemen.' 

The  sights  in  and  about  London  seem  to  have  made  no  great  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  Horace  Greeley.  He  spent  a  day  at  Hamp- 
ton Court,  which  he  oddly  describes  as  larger  than  the  Astor  House, 
but  less  lofty  and  containing  fewer  rooms.  "Westminster  Abbey 
appeared  to  him  a  mere  barbaric  profusion  of  lofty  ceilings,  stained 
windows,  carving,  graining,  and  all  manner  of  contrivances  for 
absorbing  labor  and  money — '  waste,  not  taste ;  the  contortions  of  the 
sybil  without  her  inspiration.'  The  part  of  the  building  devoted  to 
public  worship  he  thought  less  adapted  to  that  purpose  than  a  fifty- 
thousand  dollar  church  in  New  York.  The  new  fashion  of  '  inton- 
ing '  the  service  sounded  to  his  ear,  as  though  a  Friar  Tuck  had 
wormed  himself  into  the  desk  and  was  trying,  under  pretense  of 
reading  the  service,  to  caricature,  as  broadly  as  possible,  the  alleged 
peculiarity  of  the  methodistic  pulpit  super-imposed  upon  the  regular 
Yankee  drawl.  The  Epsom  races  he  declined  to  attend  for  three 
reasons;  he  had  much  to  do  at  home,  he  did  not  care  a  button 
which  of  thirty  colts  could  run  fastest,  and  he  preferred  that  his 
delight  and  that  of  swindlers,  robbers,  and  gamblers,  should  not 
4  exactly  coincide.'  He  found  time,  however,  to  visit  the  Model 
Lodging  houses,  the  People's  Bathing  establishments,  and  a  Ragged 
School.  The  spectacle  of  want  and  woe  presented  at  the  Ragged 
School  touched  him  nearly.  It  made  him  feel,  to  quote  his  own 
language,  that  "he  had  hitherto  said  too  little,  done  too  little,  dared 
too  little,  sacrified  too  little,  to  awaken  attention  to  the  infernal 
wrongs  and  abuses,  which  are  inherent  in  the  very  structure  and 
constitution,  the  nature  and  essence  of  civilized  society,  as  it  now 
exists  throughout  Christendom."  He  was  in  haste  to  be  gone  from 
a  scene,  to  look  upon  which,  as  a  mere  visitor,  seemed  an  insult 
heaped  on  injury,  an  unjustifiable  prying  into  the  saddest  secrets  of 
the  prison-house  of  human  woe ;  but  he  apologized  for  the  fancied 
impertinence  by  a  gift  of  money. 

While  in  London,  Mr.  Greeley  attended  the  anniversary  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  made  a  speech  of  a 
somewhat  novel  and  unexpected  nature.  The  question  that  was 
under  discussion  was,  'What  can  we  Britons  do  to  hasten  the  over- 


HE  SPEAKS  AT  EXETER  HALL.  353 

throw  of  Slavery  ?'  Three  colored  gentlemen  and  an  M.  P.  had 
extolled  Britain  as  the  land  of  true  freedom  and  equalityr  had 
urged  Britons  to  refuse  recognition  to  '  pro-slavery  clergymen,'  to 
avoid  using  the  products  of  slave-labor,  and  to  assist  the  free-colored 
people  to  educate  their  children.  One  of  the  colored  orators  had 
observed  the  entrance  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  named  him  commend- 
ingly  to  the  audience ;  whereupon  he  was  invited  to  take  a  seat 
upon  the  platform,  and  afterwards  to  address  the  meeting;  both  of 
which  invitations  were  promptly  accepted.  He  spoke  fifteen  min- 
utes. He  began  by  stating  the  fact,  that  American  Slavery  justifies 
itself  mainly  on  the  ground,  that  the  class  who  live  by  manual  toil 
are  everywhere,  but  particularly  in  England,  degraded  and  ill-re- 
quited. Therefore,  he  urged  upon  English  Abolitionists,  first,  to  use 
systematic  exertions  to  increase  the  reward  of  Labor  and  the  com- 
fort and  consideration  of  the  depressed  Laboring  Class  at  home ; 
and  to  diffuse  and  cherish  respect  for  Man  as  Man,  without  regard 
to  class,  color  or  vocation.  Secondly,  to  put  forth  determined  ef- 
forts for  the  eradication  of  those  Social  evils  and  miseries  in  Eng- 
land which  are  appealed  to  and  relied  on  by  slaveholders  and  their 
champions  everywhere  as  justifying  the  continuance  of  Slavery ; 
and  thirdly,  to  colonize  our  Slave  States  by  thousands  of  intelligent, 
moral,  industrious  Free  Laborers,  who  will  silently  and  practically 
dispel  the  wide-spread  delusion  which  affirms  that  the  Southern 
States  must  be  cultivated  and  their  great  staples  produced  by  Slave 
Labor,  or  not  at  all. 

These  suggestions  were  listened  to  with  respectful  attention ;  but 
they  did  not  elicit  the  'thunder  of  applause'  which  had  greeted  the 
'  Stand-aside-for-I-am-holier-than-thou '  oratory  of  the  preceding 
speakers. 

Our  traveler  witnessed  the  second  performance  at  the  Devonshire 
House,  of  Bulwer's  play,  'Not  so  Bad  as  we  Seem,'  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Literary  Guild,  the  characters  by  Charles  Dickens,  Douglas 
Jen-old,  and  other  literary  notabilities.  Not  that  he  hoped  much 
for  the  success  of  the  project;  but  it  was,  at  least,  an  attempt  to 
mend  the  fortunes  of  unlucky  British  authors,  whose  works  'we 
Americans  habitually  steal,'  and  to  whom  he,  as  an  individual,  felt 
himself  indebted.  The  price  of  the  tickets  for  the  first  performance 
was  twenty -five  dollars.  He  applied  for  one  too  late,  and  was  there- 


354  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

fore  obliged  to  content  himself  with  purchasing  a  ten-dollar  ticket 
for  the  second.  The  play,  however,  he  found  rather  dull  than 
otherwise,  the  performance  being  indebted,  he  thought,  for  its  main 
interest  to  the  personal  character  of  the  actors,  who  played  respect- 
ably for  amateurs,  but  not  well.  Dickens  was  not  at  home  in  the 
leading  part,  as  '  stateliness  sits  ill  upon  him ;'  but  he  shone  in  the 
scene  where,  as  a  bookseller  in  disguise,  he  tempts  the  virtue  of  a 
poor  author.  In  the  afterpiece,  however,  in  which  the  novelist 
personated  in  rapid  succession  a  lawyer,  a  servant,  a  gentleman  and 
an  invalid,  the  acting  seemed  '  perfect,'  and  the  play  was  heartily 
enjoyed  throughout.  Mr.  Greeley  thought,  that  the  "  raw  material 
of  a  capital  comedian  was  put  to  a  better  use  when  Charles  Dickens 
took  to  authorship."  It  was  half-past  twelve  when  the  curtain  fell, 
and  the  audience  repaired  to  a  supper  room,  where  the  munificence 
of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  had  provided  a  superb  and  profuse  enter- 
tainment. "I  did  not  venture,  at  that  hour,"  says  the  traveler,  "  to 
partake ;  but  those  who  did  would  be  quite  unlikely  to  repent  of  it 
— till  morning."  He  left  the  ducal  mansion  at  one,  just  as  '  the  vio- 
lins began  to  give  note  of  coming  melody,  to  which  nimble  feet 
were  eager  to  respond.' 

The  eightieth  birthday  of  Eobert  Owen  was  celebrated  on  the 
fourteenth  of  May,  by  a  dinner  at  the  Colbourne  hotel,  attended  by 
a  few  of  Mr.  Owen's  personal  friends,  among  whom  Horace  Gree- 
ley was  one.  "  I  cannot,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley,  "  see  many  things  as 
he  does ;  it  seems  to  me  that  he  is  stone-blind  on  the  side  of  Faith 
in  the  invisible,  and  exaggerates  the  truths  he  perceives  until  they 
almost  become  falsehoods  ;  but  I  love  his  sunny  benevolent  nature, 
I  admire  his  unwearied  exertions  for  what  he  deems  the  good  of 
humanity ;  and,  believing  with  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 
that  '  JSTow  abide  faith,  hope,  charity ;  these  three  ;  but  the  great- 
est of  these  is  charity,'  I  consider  him  practically  a  better  Chris- 
tian than  half  those  who,  professing  to  be  such,  believe  more  and  do 
less."  The  only  other  banquet  at  which  Mr.  Greeley  was  a  guest  in 
London  during  his  first  visit,  was  the  dinner  of  the  Fishmonger's 
Company.  There  he  heard  a  harangue  from  from  Sir  James 
Brooke,  the  Rajah  of  Borneo.  From  reading,  he  had  formed  the 
opinion  that  the  Rajah  was  doing  a  good  work  for  civilization 
and  humanity  in  Borneo,  but  this  impression  was  not  confirmed 


BEFORE  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  355 

by  the  ornate  and  fluent  speech  delivered  by  him  on  this  occa- 
sion. 

During  Mr.  Greeley's  stay  in  London,  the  repeal  of  the  '  taxes  on 
knowledge '  was  agitated  in  and  out  of  parliament.  Those  taxes 
were  a  duty  on  advertisements,  and  a  stamp-duty  of  one  penny  per 
copy  on  every  periodical  containing  news.  A  parliamentary  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  eight  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
Et.  Hon.  T.  Milnor  Gibson,  Messrs.  Tufnell,  Ewart,  Cobden,  Kich, 
Adair,  Hamilton,  and  Sir  J.  "Walmsey,  had  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration, and  Mr.  Greeley,  as  the  representative  of  the  only  un- 
trammeled  press  in  the  world,  was  invited  to  give  the  committee 
the  benefit  of  his  experience.  Mr.  Greeley's  evidence,  given  in 
two  sessions  of  the  committee,  no  doubt  had  influence  upon  the 
subsequent  action  of  parliament.  The  advertisement  duty  was  en- 
tirely removed.  The  penny  stamp  was  retained  for  revenue  rea- 
sons only,  but  must  finally  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  nation. 

The  chief  part  of  Mr.  Greeley's  evidence  claims  a  place  in  this 
work,  both  because  of  its  interesting  character,  and  because  it 
really  influenced  legislation  on  a  subject  of  singular  importance. 
He  told  England  what  England  did  not  understand  before  he  told 
her — why  the  Times  newspaper  was  devouring  its  contemporaries  ; 
and  he  assisted  in  preparing  the  way  for  that  coming  penny-press 
which  is  destined  to  play  so  great  a  part  in  the  future  of  '  Great 
England.' 

In  reply  to  a  question  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee  with  re- 
gard to  the  effect  of  the  duty  upon  the  advertising  business,  Mr. 
Greeley  replied  substantially  as  follows  : 

"Your  duty  is  the  same  on  the  advertisements  in  a  journal  with  fifty 
thousand  circulation,  as  in  a  journal  with  one  thousand,  although  the  value 
of  the  article  is  twenty  times  as  much  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  The 
duty  operates  precisely  as  though  you  were  to  lay  a  tax  of  one  shilling  a  day 
on  every  day's  labor  that  a  man  were  to  do ;  to  a  man  whose  labor  is  worth 
two  shillings  a  day,  it  would  be  destructive  ;  while  by  a  man  who  earns  twen- 
ty shillings  a  day,  it  would  be  very  lightly  felt.  An  advertisement  is  worth 
but  a  certain  amount,  and  the  public  soon  get  to  know  what  it  is  worth  ;  you 
put  a  duty  on  advertisements  and  you  destroy  the  value  of  those  coming  to 
new  establishments.  People  who  advertise  in  your  well-established  journals, 
could  afford  to  pay  a  price  to  include  the  duty  ;  but  in  a  new  paper,  the  adver- 


356  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

tisements  would  not  be  worth  the  amount  of  the  duty  alone ;  and  consequent- 
ly the  new  concern  would  have  no  chance  Now,  the  advertisements  are  one 
main  source  of  the  income  of  daily  papers,  and  thousands  of  business  men 
take  them  mainly  for  those  advertisements.  For  instance,  at  the  time  when 
our  auctioneers  were  appointed  by  law  (they  were,  of  course,  party  politicians), 
one  journal,  which  was  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  party  in  power,  obtained 
not  a  law,  but  an  understanding,  that  all  the  auctioneers  appointed  should  ad- 
vertise in  that  journal.  Now,  though  the  journal  referred  to  has  ceased  to 
be  of  that  party,  and  the  auctioneers  are  no  longer  appointed  by  the  State, 
yet  that  journal  has  almost  the  monopoly  of  the  auctioneer's  business  to  this 
day.  Auctioneers  must  advertise  in  it  because  they  know  that  purchasers  are 
looking  there  ;  and  purchasers  must  take  the  paper,  because  they  know  that  it 
contains  just  the  advertisements  they  want  to  see ;  and  this,  without  regard  to 
the  goodness  or  the  principles  of  the  paper.  I  know  men  in  this  town  who 
take  one  journal  mainly  for  its  advertisements,  and  they  must  take  the  Times, 
because  everything  is  advertised  in  it ;  for  the  same  reason,  advertisers  must 
advertise  in  the  Times.  If  we  had  a  duty  on  advertisements,  I  will  not  say 
it  would  be  impossible  to  build  a  new  concern  up  in  New  York  against  the 
competition  of  the  older  ones  ;  but  I  do  say,  it  would  be  impossible  to  preserve 
the  weaker  papers  from  being  swallowed  up  by  the  stronger." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  Do  you  then  consider  the  fact,  that  the  Times  newspaper 
for  the  last  fifteen  years  has  been  increasing  so  largely  in  circulation,  is  to  be 
accounted  for  mainly  by  the  existence  of  the  advertisement  duty  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes  ;  much  more  than  the  stamp.  By  the  operation  of  the 
advertisement  duty,  an  advertisement  is  charged  ten  times  as  much  in  one 
paper  as  in  another.  An  advertisement  in  the  Times  may  be  worth  five 
pounds,  while  in  another  paper  it  is  only  worth  one  pound ;  but  the  duty  is 
the  same." 

Mr.  RICH.  <(  The  greater  the  number  of  small  advertisements  in  papers, 
the  greater  the  advantage  to  their  proprietors  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes.  Suppose  the  cost  of  a  small  advertisement  to  be  five 
shillings,  the  usual  charge  in  the  Times  ;  if  you  have  to  pay  a  shilling  or 
eighteen  pence  duty,  that  advertisement  is  worth  nothing  in  a  journal  with  a 
fourth  part  of  the  circulation  of  the  Times." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  Does  it  not  appear  to  you  that  the  taxes  on  the  press  are 
hostile  to  one  another ;  in  the  first  place,  lessening  the  circulation  of  papers 
by  means  of  the  stamp  duty,  we  diminish  the  consumption  of  paper,  and 
therefore  lessen  the  amount  of  paper  duty  ;  secondly,  by  diminishing  the  sale 
of  papers  through  the  stamp,  we  lessen  the  number  of  advertisements,  and 
therefore  the  receipts  of  the  advertisement  duty  V 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  I  should  say  that  if  the  government  were,  simply  as  a  mat- 
ter of  revenue,  to  fix  a  duty,  say  of  half  a  penny  per  pound,  on  paper,  it  would 
be  easily  collected,  and  produce  more  money  ;  and  then,  a  law  which  is  equal 


HE    THROWS    LIGHT    UPON    THE    SUJBJECT.  35 

in  its  operation  does  not  require  any  considerable  number  of  officers  to  collect 
the  duty,  and  it  would  require  no  particular  vigilance  ;  and  the  duty  on  paper 
alone  would  be  most  equal  and  most  efficient  as  a  revenue  duty.'5 

CHAIRMAN.  "  It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  effect  of  the  stamp  and  advertise- 
ment duty  is  to  lessen  the  amount  of  the  receipt  from  the  duty  ori  paper." 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Enormously.  I  see  that  the  circulation  of  daily  papers  in 
London  is  but  sixty  thousand,  against  a  hundred  thousand  in  New  York  ; 
while  the  tendency  is  more  to  concentrate  on  London  than  on  New  York..  Not 
a  tenth  part  of  our  daily  papers  are  printed  in  New  York." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  Do  you  consider,  that  there  are  upwards  of  a  million  papers 
issued  daily  from  the  press  in  the  United  States  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  I  should  say  about  a  million  :  I  cannot  say  upwards.  I 
think  there  are  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  daily  journals  published  in  the 
United  States." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "At  what  amount  of  population  does  a  town  in  the  United 
States  begin  to  have  a  daily  paper  1  They  first  of  all  begin  with  a  weekly 
paper,  do  they  not?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes.  The  general  rule  is,  that  each  county  will  have  one 
weekly  newspaper.  In  all  the  Free  States,  if  a  county  have  a  population  of 
twenty  thousand,  it  has  two  papers,  one  for  each  party.  The  general  average 
in  the  agricultural  counties  is  one  local  journal  to  every  ten  thousand  inhab- 
itants. When  a  town  grows  to  have  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants  in  and  about 
it,  then  it  has  a  daily  paper  ;  but  sometimes  that  is  the  case  when  it  has  as  few 
as  ten  thousand  :  it  depends  more  on  the  business  of  a  place  than  its  popula- 
tion. But  fifteen  thousand  may  be  stated  as  the  average  at  which  a  daily  pa- 
per commences  ;  at  twenty  thousand  they  have  two,  and  so  on.  In  central 
towns,  like  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Troy,  they  have  from  three  to  five  daily  jour- 
nals, each  of  which  prints  a  semi-weekly  or  a  weekly  journal." 

Mr.  RICH.  "  Have  your  papers  much  circulation  outside  the  towns  in  which 
they  are  published  1" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  (<  The  county  is  the  genera1  limit ;  though  some  have  a 
judicial  district  of  five  or  six  counties." 

Mr.  RICH.  "  Would  the  New  York  paper,  for  instance,  have  much  circula- 
tion in  Charleston  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  The  New  York  Herald,  I  think,  which  is  considered  the 
journal  most  friendly  to  Southern  interests,  has  a  considerable  circula- 
tion." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  When  a  person  proposes  to  publish  a  paper  in  New  York,  he 
is  not  required  to  go  to  any  office  to  register  himself,  or  to  give  security  that 
he  will  not  insert  libels  or  seditious  matter  1  A  newspaper  publisher  is  not 
subject  to  any  liability  more  than  other  persons  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  No ;  no  more  than  a  man  that  starts  a  blacksmith'i 
shop/' 


358  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

CHAIRMAN.  "  They  do  not  presume  in  the  United  States,  that  because  a 
man  is  going  to  print  news  in  a  paper,  he  is  going  to  libel  7" 

Mr.  GBEELEY.  "  No  ;  nor  do  they  presume  that  his  libelling  would  be 
worth  much,  unless  he  is  a  responsible  character." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  From  what  you  have  stated  with  regard  to  the  circulation 
of  the  daily  papers  in  New  York,  it  appears  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
adult  population  must  be  customers  for  them  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes  ;  I  think  three-fourths  of  all  the  families  take  a  daily 
paper  of  some  kind." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  The  purchasers  of  the  daily  papers  must  consist  of  a  differ- 
ent class  from  those  in  England ;  mechanics  must  purchase  them  V 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  Every  mechanic  takes  a  paper,  or  nearly  every  one." 

Mr.  CQBDEN.  "  Do  those  people  generally  get  them  before  they  leave  home 
for  their  work  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes  ;  and  you  are  complained  of  if  you  do  not  furnish  a 
man  with  his  newspaper  at  his  breakfast ;  he  wants  to  read  it  between  six  or 
seven  usually." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  Then  a  ship-builder,  or  a  cooper,  or  a  joiner,  needs  his  daily 
paper  at  his  breakfast-time  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes ;  and  he  may  take  it  with  him  to  read  at  his  dinner, 
between  twelve  and  one ;  but  the  rule  is,  that  he  wants  his  paper  at  his  break- 
fast." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  After  he  has  finished  his  breakfast  or  his  dinner,  he  may 
be  found  reading  the  daily  newspaper,  just  as  the  people  of  the  upper  classes 
do  in  England?" 

Mr.  GREELEY,     "  Yes  ;  if  they  do." 

Mr.  COBDEN.     "  And  that  is  quite  common,  is  it  not  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Almost  universal,  I  think.  There  is  a  very  low  class,  a 
good  many  foreigners,  who  do  not  know  how  to  read ;  but  no  native,  I  think." 

Mr.  EWART.     "  Do  the  agricultural  laborers  read  much  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Yes ;  they  take  our  weekly  papers,  which  they  receive 
through  the  post  generally." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  The  working  people  in  New  York  are  not  in  the  habit  of 
resorting  to  public-houses  to  read  the  newspapers,  are  they  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  They  go  to  public-houses,  but  not  to  read  the  papers.  It 
is  not  the  general  practice  ;  but,  still,  we  have  quite  a  class  who  do  so." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  The  newspapers,  then,  is  not  the  attraction  to  the  public- 
house  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "No.  I  think  a  very  small  proportion  of  our  reading  class 
go  there  at  all ;  those  that  I  have  seen  there  are  mainly  the  foreign  popula- 
tion, those  who  do  not  read." 

CHAIRMAN.  "Are  there  any  papers  published  in  New  York,  or  in  other 
parts,  which  may  be  said  to  be  of  an  obscene  or  immoral  character  7" 


VINDICATES   THE   AMERICAN   PRESS.  359 

Mr.  GRKELEY.  "  We  call  the  New  York  Herald  a  very  bad  paper — those 
who  do  not  like  it ;  but  that  is  not  the  cheapest." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  Have  you  heard  of  a  paper  called  the  {  The  Town,'  publish- 
ed in  this  country,  with  pictures  of  a  certain  character  in  it  7  Have  you  any 
publications  in  the  United  States  of  that  character  7" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  Not  daily  papers.  There  are  weekly  papers  got  up  from 
time  to  time  called  the  '  Scorpion,'  the  '  Flash,'  and  so  on,  whose  purpose  is  to 
extort  money  from  parties  who  can  be  threatened  with  exposure  of  immoral 
practices,  or  for  visiting  infamous  houses." 

Mr.  EWART.     "  They  do  not  last,  do  they  ?" 

Mr  GREELEY.  "I  do  not  know  of  any  one  being  continued  for  any  con- 
siderable time.  If  one  dies,  another  is  got  up,  and  that  goes  down.  Our 
cheap  daily  papers,  the  very  cheapest,  are,  as  a  class,  quite  as  discreet  in  their 
conduct  and  conversation  as  other  journals.  They  do  not  embody  the  same 
amount  of  talent ;  they  devote  themselves  mainly  to  news.  They  are  not 
party  journals  ;  they  are  nominally  independent ;  they  are  not  given  to  harsh 
language  with  regard  to  public  men  :  they  are  very  moderate. 

Mr.  EWART.  "  Is  scurillity  or  personality  common  in  the  publications  of 
the  United  States  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  It  is  not  common ;  it  is  much  less  frequent  than  it  was  ; 
but  it  is  not  absolutely  unknown." 

Mr.  COBDEN.     "  What  is  the  circulation  of  the  New  York  Herald?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  Twenty-five  thousand,  I  believe." 

Mr.  COBDEN.     "  Is  that  an  influential  paper  in  America  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  I  think  not." 

Mr.  COBDEN.    "  It  has  a  higher  reputation  in  Europe  probably  than  at  home." 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  A  certain  class  of  journals  in  this  country  find  it  their  in- 
terest or  pleasure  to  quote  it  a  good  deal." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  As  the  demand  is  extensive,  is  the  remuneration  for  the  ser- 
vices of  the  literary  men  who  are  employed  on  the  press,  good?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  The  prices  of  literary  labor  are  more  moderate  than  in  this 
country.  The  highest  salary,  I  think,  that  would  be  commanded  by  any  one 
connected  with  the  press  would  be  five  thousand  dollars — the  highest  that 
could  be  thought  of.  I  have  not  heard  of  higher  than  three  thousand." 

Mr.  RICH.     "  What  would  be  about  the  ordinary  remuneration?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  In  our  own  concern  it  is,  besides  the  principal  editor,  from 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  down  to  five  hundred.  I  think  that  is  the  usual  range." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  Are  your  leading  men  in  America,  in  point  of  literary  abil- 
ity, employed  from  time  to  time  upon  the  press  as  an  occupation?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  It  is  beginning  to  be  so,  but  it  has  not  been  the  custom. 
There  have  been  leading  men  connected  with  the  press  ;  but  the  press  has  not 
been  usually  conducted  by  the  most  powerful  men.  With  a  few  exceptions, 
the  leading  political  journals  are  conducted  ably,  and  they  are  becoming  more 


&60          THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

so ;  and,  with  a  wider  diffusion  of  the  circulation,  the  press  is  more  ible  to  pay 
for  it." 

Mr.  RICH.     "  Is  it  a  profession  apart  ?>} 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  No ;  usually  the  men  have  been  brought  up  to  the  bar,  to 
the  pulpit,  and  so  on  ;  they  are  literary  menJ" 

CHAIRMAN.  "  I  presume  that  the  non-reading  class  in  the  United  States  is 
a  very  limited  one  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  Yes  ;  except  in  the  Slave  States?' 

CHAIRMAN.  "  Do  not  you  consider  that  newspaper  reading  is  calculated  to 
keep  up  a  habit  of  reading?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  I  think  it  is  worth  all  the  schools  in  the  country.  I  think 
it  creates  a  taste  for  reading  in  every  child's  mind,  and  it  increases  his  inter- 
est in  his  lessons ;  he  is  attracted  from  always  seeing  a  newspaper  and  hear- 
ing  it  read.  I  think." 

CHAIRMAN.  "  Supposing  that  you  had  your  schools  as  now,  but  that  your 
newspaper  press  were  reduced  within  the  limits  of  the  press  in  England,  do 
you  not  think  that  the  habit  of  reading  acquired  at  school  would  be  frequently 
laid  aside?" 

MR.  GREELEY.  "  I  think  that  the  habit  would  not  be  acquired,  and  that 
paper  rea.ding  would  fall  into  disuse.^ 

Mr.  EWART.  "Having  observed  both  countries,  can  you  state  whether  the 
press  has  greater  influence  on  public  opinion  in  the  United  States  than  in  Eng- 
land, or  the  reverse  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  I  think  it  has  more  influence  with  us.  I  do  not  know  that 
any  class  is  despotically  governed  by  the  press,  but  its  influence  is  more  uni- 
versal ;  every  one  reads  and  talks  about  it  with  us,  and  more  weight  is  laid 
\ipon  intelligence  than  on  editorials ;  the  paper  which  brings  the  quickest  news 
is  the  thing  looked  to." 

Mr.  EWART.    "  The  leading  article  has  not  so  much  influence  as  in  England  ?" 

Mr.  GHEELEY.     "  No ;  the  telegraphic  dispatch  is  the  great  point." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  Observing  our  newspapers  and  comparing  them  with  the 
American  papers^  do  you  find  that  we  make  much  less  use  of  the  electric  tele- 
graph for  transmitting  news  than  in  America  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  Not  a  hundredth  part  as  much  as  we  do." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  An  impression  prevails  in  this  country  that  our  newspaper 
press  incurs  a  great  deal  more  expense  to  expedite  newj  than  you  do  in  New 
York.  Are  you  of  that  opinion  ?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.  "  I  do  not  know  what  your  expense  is.  I  should  say  that  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  paid  by  our  association  of  the  six  leading 
daily  papers,  besides  what  each  gets  separately  for  itself." 

Mr.  COBDEN.  "  Twenty  thousand  pounds  a  year  is  paid  by  your  associ- 
ation, consisting  of  six  papers,  for  what  you  get  in  common?" 

Mr.  GREELEY.     "  Yes ;  we  telegraph  a  great  deal  in  the  United  States.    As- 


^IIE    SIGHTS    OF    PARIfe.  361 

turning  that  a  scientific  meeting  was  held  at  Cincinnati  this  year,  we  should 
telegraph  the  reports  from  that  place,  and  I  presume  other  journals  would 
have  special  reporters  to  report  the  proceedings  at  length.  We  have  a  report 
every  day,  fifteen  hundred  miles,  from  New  Orleans  daily ;  from  St.  Louis 
too,  and  other  places." 

"  The  Committee  then  adjourned." 

Gil  Saturday  morning,  the  seventh  of  June,  after  a  residence  of 
seven  busy  weeks  in  London,  our  traveler  left  that  '  magnificent 
Babel,'  for  Paris,  selecting  the  dearest  and,  of  course,  the  quickest 
route.  Dover,  quaint  and  curious  Dover,  he  thought  a  '  mean  old 
town;'  and  the  steamboat  which  conveyed  him  from  Dover  to 
Calais  was  '  one  of  those  long,  black,  narrow  scow-contrivances, 
about  equal  to  a  buttonwood  dug-out,  which  England  appears  to 
delight  in.'  Two  hours  of  deadly  sea-sickness,  and  he  stood  on  the 
shores  of  France.  At  Calais,  which  he  styles  '  a  queer  old  town,' 
lie  was  detained  a  long  hour,  obtained  an  execrable  dinner  for 
thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents,  and  changed  some  sovereigns  for 
French  money,  '  at  a  shave  which  was  not  atrocious.'  Then  away 
to  Paris  by  the  swiftest  train,  arriving  at  half-past  two  on  Sunday 
morning,  four  hours  after  the  time  promised  in  the  enticing  adver- 
tisement of  the  route.  The  ordeal  of  the  custom-house  he  passed 
with  little  delay.  "  I  did  not,"  he  says,  "  at  first  comprehend,  that 
the  number  on  my  trunk,  standing  out  fair  before  me  in  hon- 
est, unequivocal  Arabic  figures,  could  possibly  mean  anything  but 
4 fifty-two;'  but  a  friend  cautioned  me  in  season  that  those  figures 
spelled  'cinquante-deux,'  or  phonetically  'sank-on-du'  to  the  officer, 
and  I  made  my  first  attempt  at  mouthing  French  accordingly,  and 
succeeded  in  making  myself  intelligible." 

About  daylight  on  Sunday  morning,  he  reached  the  Hotel  Choi- 
seul,  Rue  St.  Honore,  where  he  found  shelter,  but  not  bed.  After 
breakfast,  however,  he  sallied  forth  and  saw  his  first  sight  in  Paris, 
high  mass  at  the  Church  of  the  Madeleine ;  which  he  thought  a 
gorgeous,  but 4  inexplicable  dumb  show.' 

Eight  days  were  all  that  the  indefatigable  man  could  afford  to  a 
stay  in  the  gay  capital ;  but  he  improved  the  time.  The  obelisk  of 
Luxor,  brought  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  covered  with  mys- 
terious inscriptions,  that  had  braved  the  winds  and  rains  of  four 
thousand  years,  impressed  him  more  deeply  than  any  object  he  had 

16 


362  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

seen  in  Europe.  The  Tuileries  were  to  his  eye  only  an  irregular 
mass  of  buildings  with  little  architectural  beauty,  and  remarkable 
chiefly  for  their  magnitude.  At,  die  French  Opera,  he  saw  the 
musical  spectacle  of  Azael  the  Prodigal,  or  rather,  three  acts  of  it; 
for  his  patience  gave  way  at  the  end  of  the  third  act.  "  Such  a 
medley  of  drinking,  praying,  dancing,  idol-worship,  and  Delilah- 
craft  he  had  never  before  encountered."  To  comprehend  an  Eng- 
lishman, he  says,  follow  him  to  the  fireside  ;  a  Frenchman,  join  him 
at  the  opera,  and  contemplate  him  during  the  performance  of  the  bal- 
let, of  which  France  is  the  cradle  and  the  home.  "  Though  no  prac- 
titioner^ he  adds,  "  I  am  yet  a  lover  of  the  dance;"  but  the  attitudes 
and  contortions  of  the  ballet  are  disagreeable  and  tasteless,  and 
the  tendency  of  such  a  performance  as  he  that  night  beheld,  was 
earthy,  sensual,  and  develish.  Notre  Dame  he  thought  not  only  the 
finest  church,  but  the  most  imposing  edifice  in  Paris,  infinitely  supe- 
rior, as  a  place  of  worship,  to  the  damp,  gloomy,  dungeon-like 
Westminster  Abbey.  The  Hotel  de  Ville,  like  the  New  York  City 
Hall,  *  lacks  another  story.'  In  the  Palace  of  Versailles,  he  saw  fresh 
proofs  of  the  selfishness  of  king-craft,  the  long-suffering  patience 
of  nations,  and  the  necessary  servility  of  Art  when  patronized  by 
royalty.  He  wandered  for  hours  through  its  innumerable  halls, 
encrusted  with  splendor,  till  the  intervention  of  a  naked  ante-room 
was  a  relief  to  the  eye ;  and  the  ruling  idea  in  picture  and  statue 
and  carving  was  military  glory.  "  Carriages  shattered  and  overturn- 
ed, animals  transfixed  by  spear-thrusts  and  writhing  in  speechless 
agony,  men  riddled  by  cannon-shot  or  pierced  by  musket-balls,  and 
ghastly  with  coming  death;  such  are  the  spectacles  which  the 
more  favored  and  fortunate  of  the  Gallic  youth  have  been  called 
for  generations  to  admire  and  enjoy.  The  whole  collection  is,  in 
its  general  effect,  delusive  and  mischievous,  the  purpose  being  to 
exhibit  War  as  always  glorious,  and  France  as  uniformly  triumph- 
ant. It  is  by  means  like  these  that  the  business  of  shattering  knee- 
joints  and  multiplying  orphans  is  kept  in  countenance." 

At  the  Louvre,  however,  the  traveler  spent  the  greater  part  of 
two  days  in  rapturous  contemplation  of  its  wonderful  collection  of 
paintings.  Two  days  out  of  eight— the  fact  is  significant. 

Let  no  man  who  has  spent  but  three  days  in  a  foreign  country, 
venture  on  prophecy  with  regard  to  its  future.  France,  at  the  time 


HIS    OPINION    OF    THE    FRENCH.  863 

of  Horace  Greeley's  brief  visit,  went  by  the  name  of  Republic,  and 
Louis  Napoleon  was  called  President.  For  a  sturdy  republican 
like  Mr.  Greeley,  it  was  but  natural  that  one  of  his  first  inquiries 
should  be,  '  Will  the  Republic  stand  ?'  It  is  amusing,  now,  to  read 
in  a  letter  of  his,  written  on  the  third  day  of  his  residence  in  Paris, 
the  most  confident  predictions  of  its  stability,  "  Alike,"  he  says, 
"  by  its  own  strength  and  by  its  enemies'  divisions,  the  safety  of  the 
Republic  is  assured;"  and  again,  "Time  is  on  the  popular  side,  and 
every  hour's  endurance  adds  strength  to  the  Republic."  And  yet 
again,  "An  open  attack  by  the  Autocrat  would  certainly  consolidate 
it;  a  prolongation  of  Louis  Napoleon's  power  (no  longer  probable} 
would  have  the  same  effect."  "No  longer  probable."  The  striking 
events  of  history  have  seldom  seemed  'probable '  a  year  before  they 
occurred. 

Other  impressions  made  upon  the  mind  of  the  traveler  were 
more  correct.  France,  which  the  English  press  was  daily  repre- 
senting as  a  nation  inhabited  equally  by  felons,  bankrupts,  paupers 
and  lunatics,  he  found  as  tranquil  and  prosperous  as  England  her- 
self. He  saw  there  less  plate  upon  the  sideboards  of  her  landlords 
and  bankers,  but  he  observed  evidences  on  all  hands  of  general 
though  unostentatious  thrift.  The  French  he  thought  intelligent, 
vivacious,  courteous,  obliging,  generous  and  humane,  eager  to  en- 
joy, but  willing  that  all  the  world  should  enjoy  with  them ;  but  at 
the  same  time,  they  are  impulsive,  fickle,  sensual  and  irreverent. 
Paris,  the  '  paradise  of  the  senses,'  contained  tens  of  thousands  who 
could  die  fighting  for  liberty,  but  no  class  who  could  even  compre- 
hend the  idea  of  the  temperance  pledge !  !  The  poor  of  Paris 
seemed  to  suffer  less  than  the  poor  of  London  ;  but  in  London  there 
were  ten  philanthropic  enterprises  for  one  in  Paris.  In  Paris  he 
saw  none  of  that  abject  servility  in  the  bearing  of  the  poor  to  the 
rich  which  had  excited  his  disgust  and  commiseration  in  London. 
A  hundred  princes  and  dukes  attract  less  attention  in  Paris  than 
one  in  London ;  for  *  Democracy  triumphed  in  the  drawing-rooms 
of  Paris  before  it  had  erected  its  first  barricade  in  the  streets  ;'  and 
once  more  the  traveler  "marvels  at  the  obliquity  of  vision,  where- 
by any  one  is  enabled,  standing  in  this  metropolis,  to  anticipate  the 
subversion  of  the  Republic."  "  And  if,"  he  adds,  "  passing  over 
the  mob  of  generals  and  politicians-by -trade,  the  choice  of  candi- 


§64  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

dates  for  the  next  presidential  terra  should  fall  on  some  modest  and 
unambitious  citizen,  who  has  earned  a  character  by  quiet  probity 
and  his  bread  by  honest  labor,  I  shall  hope  to  see  his  name  at  the 
head  of  the  poll  in  spite  of  the  unconstitutional  overthrow  of  Uni- 
versal Suffrage.1'  Thus  he  thought  that  France,  fickle,  glory-loving 
France,  would  do  in  1852,  what  he  only  hoped  America  would  be 
capable  of  some  time  before  the  year  1900  ;  that  is,  '  elect  something 
else  than  Generals  to  the  presidency.' 

Away  to  Lyons  on  the  sixteenth  of  June.  To  an  impetuous  trav- 
eler like  Horace  Greeley,  the  tedious  formalities  of  the  European 
railroads  were  sufficiently  irritating  ;  but  the  "  passport  nuisance  " 
was  disgusting  almost  beyond  endurance.  One  of  the  very  few 
anecdotes  which  he  found  time  to  tell  in  his  letters  to  the  Tribune, 
occurs  in  connection  with  his  remarks  upon  this  subject.  "  Every 
one  in  Paris  who  lodges  a  stranger  must  see  forthwith  that  he  has 
a  passport  in  good  condition,  in  default  of  which  said  host  is  liable 
to  a  penalty.  Now,  two  Americans,  when  applied  to,  produced 
passports  in  due  form,  but  the  professions  set  forth  therein  were  not 
transparent  to  the  landlord's  apprehension.  One  of  them  was  duly 
designated  in  his  passport  as  a  '  loafer]  the  other  as  a  '  rowdy ^  and 
they  informed  him,  on  application,  that  though  these  professions 
were  highly  popular  in  America  and  extensively  followed,  they 
knew  no  French  synonyms  into  which  they  could  be  translated.  The 
landlord,  not  content  with  the  sign  manual  of  Daniel  Webster,  affirm- 
ing that  all  was  right,  applied  to  an  American  friend  for  a  translation 
01  the  inexplicable  professions,  but  I  am  not  sure  that  he  has  even 
yet  been  fully  enlightened  with  regard  to  them."  He  thought  that 
three  days'  endurance  of  the  passport  system  as  it  exists  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  would  send  any  American  citizen  home  with  his 
love  of  liberty  and  country  kindled  to  a  blaze  of  enthusiasm. 

On  the  long  railroad  ride  to  Lyons,  the  traveler  was  half  stifled 
with  the  tobacco  smoke  in  the  cars.  His  companions  were  all 
Frenchmen  and  all  smokers,  who  "  kept  puff-puffing,  through  the 
day ;  first  all  of  them,  then  three,  two,  and  at  all  events  one,  till 
they  all  got  out  at  Dijon  near  nightfall;  when,  before  I  had  time 
to  congratulate  myself  on  the  atmospheric  improvement,  another 
Frenchman  got  in,  lit  his  cigar,  and  went  at  it.  All  this  was  in 
direct  and  flagrant  violation  of  the  rules  posted  up  in  the  car ; 


JOURNEY    TO    ITALY.  365 

but  when  did  a  smoker  ever  care  for  law  or  decency  ?"  However, 
lie  flattened  his  nose  diligently  against  the  car  windows,  and  spied 
what  he  could  of  the  crops,  the  culture,  the  houses  and  the  people 
of  the  country.  He  discovered  that  a  Yankee  could  mow  twice 
as  much  grass  in  a  day  as  a  Frenchman,  but  not  get  as  much  from 
each  acre ;  that  the  women  did  more  than  half  the  work  of  the 
farms  ;  that  the  agricultural  implements  were  primitive  and  rude, 
the  hay-carts  "  wretchedly  small ;"  that  the  farm-houses  were  Iow7 
small,  steep-roofed,  huddled  together,  and  not  worth  a  hundred  dol- 
lars each;  that  fruit-trees  were  deplorably  scarce;  and  that  the 
stalls  and  stables  for  the  cattle  were  '  visible  only  to  the  eye  of 
faith.'  He  reached  Ghalours  on  the  Saone,  at  nine  in  the  evening  ; 
and  Lyons  per  steamboat  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day.  Lyons, 
the  capital  of  the  silk-trade,  furnished  him,  as  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated, with  an  excellent  text  for  a  letter  on  Protection,  in  which 
he  endeavored  to  prove  that  it  is  not  best  for  mankind  that  one 
hundred  thousand  silk-workers  should  be  clustered  on  any  square 
mile  or  two  of  earth. 

The  traveler's  next  ride  was  across  the  Alps  to  Turin.  The  let- 
ter which  describes  it  contains,  besides  the  usual  remarks  upon 
wheat,  grass,  fruit-trees  and  bad  farming,  one  slight  addition  to  our 
stock  of  personal  anecdotes.  The  diligence  had  stopped  at  Cham- 
bery,  the  capital  of  Savoy,  for  breakfast. 

"  There  was  enough,"  he  writes,  "  and  good  enough  to  eat,  wine  in  abun- 
dance without  charge,  but  tea,  coffee,  or  chocolate,  must  be  ordered  and  paid 
for  extra.  Yet  I  was  unable  to  obtain  a  cup  of  chocolate,  the  excuse  being 
that  there  was  not  time  to  make  it.  I  did  not  understand,  therefore,  why  I 
was  charged  more  than  others  for  breakfast ;  but  to  talk  English  against 
French  or  Italian  is  to  get  a  mile  behind  in  no  time,  so  I  pocketed  the  change 
offered  me  and  came  away.  On  the  coach,  however,  with  an  Englishman  near 
me  who  had  traveled  this  way  before  and  spoke  French  and  Italian,  I  ven- 
tured to  expose  my  ignorance  as  follows  : 

"  '  Neighbor,  why  was  I  charged  three  francs  for  breakfast,  and  the  rest  of 
you  but  two  and  a  half  7' 

"  '  Don't  know — perhaps  you  had  tea  or  coffee.' 

i! '  No,  sir — don't  drink  either.' 

*( '  Then  perhaps  you  washed  your  face  and  hands.' 

"  '  Well,  it  would  be  just  like  me.' 

"  '  0,  then,  that 's  it !     The  half  franc  was  for  the  basin  and  towel.' 

u  '  Ah,  out,  oui.'     So  the  milk  in  that  cocoanut  was  accounted  for." 


366  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

Anecdotes  are  precious  for  biographical  purposes.  This  is  a 
little  story,  but  the  reader  may  infer  from  it  something  respecting 
Horace  Greeley's  manners,  habits,  and  character.  The  morn- 
ing of  June  the  twentieth  found  the  diligence  rumbling  over 
the  beautiful  plain  of  Piedmont  towards  Turin.  Horace  Greeley 
was  in  Italy.  One  of  the  first  observations  which  he  made  in  that 
enchanting  country  was,  that  he  had  never  seen  a  region  where  a, 
few  sub-soil  plows,  with  men  qualified  to  use  and  explain  them,  were 
so  much  wanted !  Refreshing  remark !  The  sky  of  Italy  had  been 
overdone.  At  length,  a  traveler  crossed  the  Alps  who  had  an  eye 
for  the  necessities  of  the  soil. 

Mr.  Greeley  spent  twenty-one  days  in  Italy,  paying  flying  visits 
to  Turin,  Genoa,  Pisa,  Florence,  Padua,  Bologna,  Venice,  Milan,  and 
passing  about  a  week  in  Rome.  At  Genoa,  he  remarked  that  the 
kingdom  of  Sardinia,  which  contains  a  population  of  only  four  mill- 
ions, maintains  sixty  thousand  priests,  but  not  five  thousand  teach- 
ers of  elementary  knowledge  ;  and  that,  while  the  churches  of  Ge- 
noa are  worth  four  millions  of  dollars,  the  school-houses  would  not 
bring  fifty  thousand.  "  The  black-coated  gentry  fairly  overshadow 
the  land  with  their  shovel-hats,  so  that  corn  has  no  ohance  of  sun- 
shine." Pisa,  too,  could  afford  to  spend  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  fireworks  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  its  patron  saint ; 
but  can  spare  nothing  for  popular  education.  At  Florence,  the  trav- 
veler  passed  some  agreeable  hours  with  Hiram  Powers,  felt  that  his 
Greek  Slave  and  Fisher  Boy  were  not  the  loftiest  achievements  of 
that  artist,  defied  antiquity  to  surpass  his  Proserpine  and  Psyche, 
and  predicted  that  Powers,  unlike  Alexander,  has  realms  still  to 
conquer,  and  will  fulfil  his  destiny.  At  Bologna  the  most  notable 
thing  he  saw  was  an  awning  spread  over  the  centre  of  the  main 
street  for  a  distance  of  half  a  mile,  and  he  thought  the  idea  might 
be  worth  borrowing.  On  entering  Venice  his  carpet-bags  were 
searched  for  tobacco  ;  and  he  remarks,  that  when  any  tide-waiter 
finds  more  of  that  noxious  weed  about  him  than  the  chronic  ill- 
breeding  of  smokers  compels  him  to  carry  in  his  clothes,  he  is  wel- 
come to  confiscate  all  his  worldly  possessions.  Before  reaching 
Venice,  another  diligence -incident  occurred,  which  the  traveler  may 
be  permitted  himself  to  relate  : 


A   NAP    IN   THE    DILIGENCE.  3C7 

"As  midnight  drew  on,"  he  writes,  "  I  grew  weary  of  gazing  at  the  same 
endless  diversity  of  grain-fields,  vineyards,  rows  of  trees,  &c.,  though  the 
bright  moon  was  now  shining  ;  and,  shutting  out  the  chill  night-air,  I  disposed 
myself  on  my  old  great-coat  and  softest  carpet-bag  for  a  drowse,  having  ample 
room  at  my  command  if  I  could  but  have  brought  it  into  a  straight  line.  But 
the  road  was  hard,  the  coach  a  little  the  uneasiest  I  ever  hardened  my  bones 
upon,  and  my  slumber  was  of  a  disturbed  and  dubious  character,  a  dim  sense 
of  physical  discomfort  shaping  and  coloring  my  incoherent  and  fitful  visions. 
For  a  time  I  fancied  myself  held  down  on  my  back  while  some  malevolent 
wretch  drenched  the  floor  (and  me)  with  filthy  water  ;  then  I  was  in  a  rude 
scuffle,  and  came  out  third  or  fourth  best,  with  my  clothes  badly  torn  ;  anon  I 
had  lost  my  hat  in  a  strange  place,  and  could  not  begin  to  find  it ;  and  at  last 
my  clothes  were  full  of  grasshoppers  and  spiders,  who  were  beguiling  their 
leisure  by  biting  and  stinging  me.  The  misery  at  last  became  unbearable  and 
I  awoke.  But  where  ?  I  was  plainly  in  a  tight,  dark  box  that  needed  more 
air  ;  I  soon  recollected  that  it  was  a  stage-coach,  wherein  I  had  been  making 
my  way  from  Fcrrara  to  Padua.  I  threw  open  the  door  and  looked  out. 
Horses,  postilions,  and  guard  were  all  gone  ;  the  moon,  the  fields,  the  road 
were  gone  :  I  was  in  a  close  court-yard,  alone  with  Night  and  Silence ;  but 
where  ?  A  church  clock  struck  three  ;  but  it  was  only  promised  that  we 
should  reach  Padua  by  four,  and  I,  making  the  usual  discount  on  such  prom- 
ises, had  set  down  five  as  the  probable  hour  of  our  arrival.  I  got  out  to  take 
a  more  deliberate  survey,  and  the  tall  form  and  bright  bayonet  of  an  Austrian 
sentinel,  standing  guard  over  the  egress  of  the  court-yard,  were  before  me. 
To  talk  German  was  beyond  the  sweep  of  my  dizziest  ambition,  but  an  Italian 
runner  or  porter  instantly  presented  himself.  From  him  I  made  out  that  I 
was  in  Padua  of  ancient  and  learned  renown  (Italian  Padova),  and  that  the 
first  train  for  Venice  would  not  start  for  three  hours  yet.  I  followed  him  into 
a  convenient  cafe,  which  was  all  open  and  well  lighted,  where  I  ordered  a  cup 
of  chocolate,  and  proceeded  leisurely  to  discuss  it.  When  I  had  finished,  the 
other  guests  had  all  gone  out,  but  daylight  was  coming  in,  and  I  began  to  feel 
more  at  home.  The  cafe  tender  was  asleep  in  his  chair  ;  the  porter  had  gone 
off ;  the  sentinel  alone  kept  awake  on  his  post.  Soon  the  welcome  face  of  the 
coach-guard,  whom  I  had  borne  company  from  Bologna,  appeared ;  I  hailed 
him,  obtained  my  baggage,  hired  a  porter,  and,  having  nothing  more  to  wait 
for,  started  at  a  little  jpast  four  for  the  Railroad  station,  nearly  a  mile  dis- 
tant ;  taking  observations  as  I  went.  Arrived  at  the  depot,  I  discharged  my 
porter,  sat  down  and  waited  for  the  place  to  open,  with  ample  leisure  for  re- 
flection. At  six  o'clock  I  felt  once  more  the  welcome  motion  of  a  railroad  car, 
and  at  eight  was  in  Venice." 

At  Venice,  amid  a  thousand  signs  of  decay,  he  saw  one,  and  only 
one,  indication  of  progress.  It  was  a  gondola  with  the  word  CM- 


368  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

NIBUS  written  upon  it ;  and  the  omnibus,  he  remarks,  typifies  ASSO- 
CIATION, the  simple  but  grandly  fruitful  idea  which  is  destined  to 
renovate  the  world  of  industry  and  production,  substituting  abun- 
dance and  comfort  for  penury  and  misery.  For  Man,  he  thought, 
this  quickening  word  is  yet  seasonable  ;  for  Venice,  it  is  too  late. 

Rome  our  hurrying  traveler  reached  through  much  tribulation. 
Even  his  patience  gave  way  when  the  petty  and  numberless  ex- 
actions of  passport  officials,  hotel  runners,  postilions,  and  porters, 
had  wrung  the  last  copper  from  his  pocket.  After  he  and  his  fel- 
low-passengers had  paid  every  conceivable  demand,  when  they 
supposed  they  had  bought  off  every  enemyT  and  had  nothing  to  do- 
but  drive  quietly  into  the  city,  uour  postilion,"  says  the  indignant 
traveler,  "  came  down  upon  us  for  more  money  for  taking  us  to  a 
hotel ;  and  as  we  could  do  no  better,  we  agreed  to  give  him  four 
francs  to  set  down  four  of  us  (all  the  Americans  and  English  he 
had)  at  one  hotel.  He  drove  by  the  Diligence  Office,  however,  and 
there  three  or  four  rough  customers  jumped  unbidden  on  the  ve- 
hicle, and,  when  we  reached  our  hotel,  made  themselves  busy  with 
our  little  luggage,  which  we  would  have  thanked  them  to  let  alone. 
Having  obtained  it,  we  settled  with  the  postilion,  who  grumbled 
and  scolded,  though  we  paid  him  more  than  his  four  francs.  Then 
came  the  leader  of  our  volunteer  aids,  to  be  paid  for  taking  down, 
the  luggage.  I  had  not  a  penny  of  change  left,  but  others  of  our 
company  scraped  their  pockets  of  a  handful  of  coppers,  which  the 
'•faccJiini'  rejected  with  scorn,  throwing  them  after  us  up  stairs  (I 
.hope  they  did  not  pick  them  up  afterwards),  and  I  heard  their  im- 
precations until  I  had  reached  my  room,  but  a  blessed  ignorance  of 
Italian  shielded  me  from  any  insult  in  the  premises.  Soon  my  two> 
light  carpet-bags,  which  I  was  not  allowed  to  carry,  came  up  with 
a  fresh  demand  for  porterage.  '  Don't  you  belong  to  the  hotel  ?' 
'Yes.'  'Then  vanish  instantly!'  I  shut  the  door  in  his  face, 
and  let  him  growl  to  his  heart's  content ;  and  thus  closed  my  first 
day  in  the  more  especial  dominions  of  His  Holiness  Pius  IX." 

But  he  was  in  Rome,  and  Rome  impressed  him  deeply  ;  for,  in 
the  nature  of  Horace  Greeley,  the  poetical  element  exists  as  un- 
deniably as  the  practical.  He  has  an  eye  for  a  picture  and  a  pros- 
pect, as  well  as  for  a  potato-field  and  a  sub-soil  plough. 

The  greater  part  of  his  week  in  Rome  was  spent  in  the  galleries 


SCENE    IN    THE    COLISEUM. 

of  art ;  and  while  feasting  his  eyes  with  their  manifold  glories, 
practical  suggestions  for  the  diffusion  of  all  that  wealth  of  beauty 
occur  to  his  mind.  It  is  well,  he  thought,  that  there  should  he 
somewhere  in  the  world  an  Emporium  of  the  Fine  Arts;  but  not 
well  that  the  heart  should  absorb  all  the  blood  and  leave  the  limbs 
destitute ;  and,  "  if  Kome  would  but  consider  herself  under  a  moral 
responsibility  to  impart  as  well  as  receive,  and  would  liberally  dis- 
pose of  so  many  of  her  master-pieces  as  would  not  at  all  impover- 
ish her,  buying  in  return  such  as  could  be  spared  her  from  abroad, 
and  would  thus  enrich  her  collections  by  diversifying  them,  she 
would  render  the  cause  of  Art  a  signal  service,  and  earn  the  grati- 
tude of  mankind,  without  the  least  prejudice  to  her  own  permanent 
well-being." 

Among  the  Sights  of  Rome,  the  Coliseum  seems  to  have  made 
the  most  lasting  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  traveler.  He  was 
fortunate  in  the  hour  of  his  visit.  As  he  slowly  made  the  circuit 
of  the  gigantic  ruin,  a  body  of  French  cavalry  were  exercising  their 
horses  along  the  eastern  side,  while  in  a  neighboring  grove  the 
rattle  of  the  kettle-drum  revealed  the  presence  of  infantry.  At 
length  the  horsemen  rode  slowly  away,  and  the  attention  of  the 
visitors  was  attracted  to  some  groups  of  Italians  in  the  interior,  who 
were  slowly  marching  and  chanting. 

"We  entered,"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  "and  were  witnesses  of  a  strange,  im- 
pressive ceremony.  It  is  among  the  traditions  of  Rome  that  a  great  number 
of  the  early  Christians  were  compelled  by  their  heathen  persecutors  to  fight 
and  die  here  as  gladiators,  as  a  punishment  for  their  contumacious,  treasonable 
resistance  to  the  '  lower  law'  then  in  the  ascendant,  which  the  high  priests  and 
circuit  judges  of  that  day  were  wont  in  their  sermons  and  charges  to  demon- 
strate that  every  one  was  bound  as  a  law-abiding  citizen  to  obey,  no  matter 
what  might  be  his  private,  personal  convictions  with  regard  to  it.  Since  the 
Coliseum  has  been  cleared  of  rubbish,  fourteen  little  oratories  or  places  of 
prayer  have  been  cheaply  constructed  around  its  inner  circumference,  and 
here  at  certain  seasons  prayers  are  offered  for  the  eternal  bliss  of  the  martyr- 
ed Christians  of  the  Coliseum.  These  prayers  were  being  offered  on  this  oc- 
casion. Twenty  or  thirty  men  (priests  or  monks  I  inferred),  partly  bare- 
headed, but  as  many  with  their  heads  completely  covered  by  hooded  cloaks, 
which  left  only  two  small  holes  for  the  eyes,  accompanied  by  a  large  number 
of  women,  marched  slowly  and  sadly  to  one  oratory,  chanting  a  prayer  by  the 
way,  setting  up  their  lighted  tapers  by  its  semblance  of  an  altar,  kneeling  and 

16* 


370  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

praying  for  some  minutes,  then  rising  and  proceeding  to  the  next  oratory,  and 
so  on  until  they  had  repeated  the  service  before  every  one.  They  all  seemed 
to  be  of  the  poorer  class,  and  I  presume  the  ceremony  is  often  repeated  or  the 
participators  would  have  been  much  more  numerous.  The  praying  was  fer- 
vent and  I  trust  excellent, — as  the  music  decidedly  was  not ;  but  the  whole 
scene,  with  the  setting  sun  shining  redly  through  the  shattered  arches  and 
upon  the  ruined  wall,  with  a  few  French  soldiers  standing  heedlessly  by, 
was  strangely  picturesque,  and  to  me  affecting.  I  came  away  before  it  con- 
cluded, to  avoid  the  damp  night-air ;  but  many  checkered  years  and  scenes 
of  stirring  interest  must  intervene  to  efface  from  my  memory  that  sun-set  and 
those  strange  prayers  in  the  Coliseum." 

St.  Peter's,  he  styles  the  Niagara  of  edifices ;  and,  like  Niagara, 
the  first  view  of  it  is  disappointing.  In  the  Sistine  chapel,  he  ob- 
served a  picture  of  the  Death  of  Admiral  Ooligny  at  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  and  if  the  placing  of  that  picture  there  was  not 
intended  to  express  approbation  of  the  Massacre,  he  wanted  to  know 
what  is  was  intended  to  express. 

The  tenth  of  July  was  the  traveler's  last  day  in  Italy.  A  swift 
journey  through  Switzerland,  Germany,  Belgium,  and  North  East- 
ern France  brought  him  once  more  to  England.  In  Switzerland, 
he  saw  everywhere  the  signs  of  frugal  thrift  and  homely  content. 
He  was  assailed  by  no  beggar,  cheated  by  no  official ;  though,  as  he 
truly  remarks,  he  was  '  very  palpably  a  stranger.'  A  more  '  upright, 
kindly,  truly  religious  people '  than  the  Catholic  Swiss,  he  had  never 
seen  ;  and  he  thought  their  superiority  to  the  Italians  attributable 
to  their  republican  institutions ! !  He  liked  the  Germans.  Their 
good  humor,  their  kind-heartedness,  their  deference  to  each  other's 
wishes,  their  quiet,  unostentatious  manner,  their  self-respect,  won 
his  particular  regard.  In  the  main  cabins  of  German  steamboats, 
he  was  gratified  to  see  "  well-dressed  young  ladies  take  out  their 
home-prepared  dinner  and  eat  it  at  their  own-  good  time  without 
seeking  the  company  and  countenance  of  others,  or  troubling  them- 
selves to  see  who  was  observing.  A  Lowell  factory  girl  would  con- 
sider this  entirely  out  of  character,  and  a  New  York  milliner  would 
be  shocked  at  the  idea  of  it." 

Nowhere,  he  here  remarks,  had  he  found  Aristocracy  a  chronic 
disease,  except  in  England. 

"Your  Paris  boot-black  will  make  you  a  low  bow  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  a  franc,  but  he  has  not  a  trace  of  the  abjectness  of  a 


TO    ENGLAND    AGAIN.  371 

London  waiter,  and  would  evidently  decline  the  honor  of  being 
kicked  by  a  Duke.  In  Italy,  there  is  little  manhood  but  no  class- 
worship  ;  her  millions  of  beggars  will  not  abase  themselves  one 
whit  lower  before  a  Prince  than  before  any  one  else  from  whom 
they  hope  to  worm  a  copper.  The  Swiss  are  freemen,  and  wear  the 
fact  unconsciously  but  palpably  on  their  brows  and  beaming  from 
their  eyes.  The  Germans  submit  passively  to  arbitrary  power 
which  they  see  not  how  successfully  to  resist,  but  they  render  to 
rank  or  dignity  no  more  homage  than  is  necessary — their  souls  are 
still  free,  and  their  manners  evince  a  simplicity  and  frankness  which 
might  shame,  or  at  least  instruct  America." 

On  the  twenty-first  of  July,  Horace  Greeley  was  again  in  Lon- 
don. One  incident  of  his  journey  from  the  court  to  the  metropolis 
was  sufficiently  ludicrous.  There  were  three  Frenchmen  and  two 
French  women  in  the  car,  going  up  to  see  the  Exhibition.  "  London 
Stoutf  displayed  in  tall  letters  across  the  front  of  a  tavern,  attract- 
ed the  attention  of  the  party.  'Stoot?  Stoot?^  queried  one  of 
them ;  but  the  rest  were  as  much  in  the  dark  as  he,  and  the  Amer- 
ican was  as  deficient  in  French  as  they  in  English.  The  befogged 
one  pulled  out  his  dictionary  and  read  over  and  over  all  the  French 
synonyms  of  '  Stout,'  but  this  only  increased  his  perplexity.  '  Stout ' 
signified  'robust,'  'hearty,'  'vigorous,'  'resolute,'  &c.,  but  what 
then  could  '  London  Stout '  be  ?  He  closed  his  book  at  length  in 
despair  and  resumed  his  observations." 

The  remaining  sixteen  days  of  Mr.  Greeley's  three  months  in  Eu- 
rope were  busy  ones  indeed.  The  great  Peace  Convention  was  in 
session  in  London ;  but,  as  he  was  not  a  delegate,  he  took  no  part 
in  its  proceedings.  If  he  had  been  a  delegate,  he  tells  us,  that  he 
should  have  offered  a  resolution  which  would  have  affirmed,  not 
denied,  the  right  of  a  nation,  wantonly  invaded  by  a  foreign  army 
or  intolerably  oppressed  by  its  own  rulers,  to  resist  force  by  force ; 
a  proposition  which  he  thought  might  perhaps  have  marred  the 
'  harmony  and  happiness '  of  the  Convention. 

A  few  days  after  his  return  to  London,  he  had  the  very  great 
gratification  of  witnessing  the  triumph  of  M'Cormick's  Reaping  Ma- 
chine, which,  as  it  stood  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  had  excited  general 
derision,  and  been  styled  '  a  cross  between  an  Astley  chariot,  a  fly- 
ing machine,  and  a  tread-mill.'  It  came  into  the  field,  therefore,  to 


372  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

confront  a  tribunal  prepared  for  its  condemnation.  "Before  it 
stood  John  Bull,  burly,  dogged,  and  determined  not  to  be  humbug- 
ged— his  judgment  made  up  and  his  sentence  ready  to  be  recorded. 
Nothing  disconcerted,  the  brown,  rough,  homespun  Yankee  in 
charge  jumped  on  the  box,  starting  the  team  at  a  smart  walk,  set- 
ting the  blades  of  the  machine  in  lively  operation,  and  commenced 
raking  off  the  grain  in  sheaf-piles  ready  for  binding, — cutting  a 
breadth  of  nine  or  ten  feet  cleanly  and  carefully  as  fast  as  a  span 
of  horses  could  comfortably  step.  There  was  a  moment,  and  but  a 
moment  of  suspense;  human  prejudice  could  hold  out  no  longer; 
and  burst  after  burst  of  involuntary  cheers  from  the  whole  crowd 
proclaimed  the  triumph  of  the  Yankee  '  treadmill.' " 

A  rapid  tour  through  the  north  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land absorbed  the  last  week  of  Mr.  Greeley's  stay  in  Europe.  The 
grand  old  town  of  Edinburgh  '  surpassed  his  expectations/  and  he 
was  amused  at  the  passion  of  the  Edinburghers  for  erecting  public 
monuments  to  eminent  men.  Glasgow  looked  to  him  more  like  an 
American  city  than  any  other  he  had  seen  in  Europe ;  it  was  half 
Pittsburgh,  half  Philadelphia.  Ireland  seemed  more  desolate,  more 
wretched,  even  in  its  best  parts,  than  he  had  expected  to  find  it. 
As  an  additional  proof  of  his  instinctive  sense  of  means  and  ends, 
take  this  suggestion  for  Ireland's  deliverance  from  the  pall  of  igno- 
rance that  overspreads  it : — "  Let  the  Catholic  Bishops  unite  in  an 
earnest  and  potential  call  for  teachers,  and  they  can  summon  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  capable  and  qualified  persons  from 
convents,  from  seminaries,  from  cloisters,  from  drawing-rooms,  even 
from  foreign  lands  if  need  be,  to  devote  their  time  and  efforts  to  the 
work  without  earthly  recompense  or  any  stipulation  save  for  a  bare 
subsistence,  which  the  less  needy  Catholics,  or  even  the  more  liberal 
Protestants,  in  every  parish,  would  gladly  proffer  them." 

Perfectly  practicable — perfectly  impossible !  The  following  is  the 
only  incident  of  his  Irish  tour  that  space  can  be  found  for  here  : — 
"  Walking  with  a  friend  through  one  of  the  back  streets  of  Galway 
beside  the  outlet  of  the  Lakes,  I  came  where  a  girl  of  ten  years  old 
was  breaking  up  hard  brook  pebbles  into  suitable  fragments  to  mend 
roads  with.  We  halted,  and  M.  asked  her  how  much  she  received 
for  that  labor.  She  answered,  '  Sixpence  a  car-load.'  4  How  long 
will  it  take  you  to  break  a  car-load  ?'  '  About  a  fortnight.'' " 


HIS    OPINION    OF   THE    ENGLISH.  373 

He  concluded  his  brief  sketch  of  this  country  with  the  words, 
"  Alas  !  unhappy  Ireland."  Yet,  on  a  calmer  and  fuller  survey  of 
Ireland's  case,  and  after  an  enumeration  of  the  various  measures  for 
her  relief  and  regeneration  which  were  slowly  but  surely  operating, 
he  exclaims,  "  There  shall  yet  be  an  Ireland  to  which  her  sons  in 
distant  lands  may  turn  their  eyes  with  a  pride  unmingled  with  sad- 
ness ;  but  who  can  say  how  soon !" 

Mr.  Greeley,  though  he  did  not  '  wholly  like  those  grave  and 
stately  English,'  appreciated  highly  and  commends  frankly  their 
many  good  qualities. .  He  praised  their  industry,  their  method,  their 
economy,  their  sense  of  the  practical ;  sparing  not,  however,  their 
conceit  and  arrogance.  An  English  duchess,  he  remarks,  does  not 
hesitate  to  say, '  I  cannot  afford'  a  proposed  outlay — an  avowal  rare- 
ly and  reluctantly  made  by  an  American,  even  in  moderate  circum- 
stances. The  English  he  thought  a  most  un-ideal  people,  even  in 
their  '  obstreperous  loyalty' ;  and  when  the  portly  and  well-to-do 
Briton  exclaims,  '  Gpd  save  the  Queen,'  with  intense  enthusiasm,  he 
means,  '  God  save  my  estates,  my  rents,  my  shares,  my  consols,  my 
expectations.'  He  liked  the  amiable  women  of  England,  so  excel- 
lent at  the  fireside,  so  tame  in  the  drawing-room ;  but  he  doubted 
whether  they  could  so  much  as  comprehend  the  '  ideas  which  under- 
lie the  woman's -rights  movement.'  The  English  have  a  sharp  eye 
to  business,  he  thought ;  particularly  the  Free  Traders.  Our  cham- 
pion of  Protection  on  this  subject  remarks  : — "  The  French  widow 
who  appended  to  the  high-wrought  eulogium  engraved  on  her  hus- 
band's tombstone,  that  '  His  disconsolate  widow  still  keeps  the  shop 
No.  16  Rue  St.  Denis,'  had  not  a  keener  eye  to  business  than  these 
apostles  of  the  Economic  faith.  No  consideration  of  time  or  place 
is  regarded ;  in  festive  meetings,  peace  conventions,  or  gatherings 
of  any  kind,  where  men  of  various  lands  and  views  are  notoriously 
congregated,  and  where  no  reply  could  be  made  without  disturbing 
the  harmony  and  distracting  the  attention  of  the  assemblage,  the 
disciples  of  Cobden  are  sure  to  interlard  their  harangues  with  ad- 
vice to  foreigners  substantially  thus — '  N".  B.  Protection  is  a  great 
humbug  and  a  great  waste.  Better  abolish  your  tariffs,  stop  your 
factories,  and  buy  at  our  shops.  We  're  the  boys  to  give  you 
thirteen  pence  for  every  shilling.'  I  cannot  say  how  this  affected 
others,  but  to  me  it  seemed  hardly  more  ill-mannered  than  impolitic." 


374  THREE  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE. 

Yet,  the  better  qualities  of  the  British  decidedly  preponderate ; 
and  he  adds,  that  the  quiet  comfort  and  heartfelt  warmth  of  an 
English  fireside  must  be  felt  to  be  appreciated. 

On  Wednesday,  the  sixth  of  August,  Horace  Greeley  was  once 
more  on  board  the  steamship  Baltic,  homeward  bound. 

"I  rejoice,"  he  wrote  on  the  morning  of  his  departure,  "I  rejoice  to  feel 
that  every  hour,  henceforth,  must  lessen  the  distance  which  divides  me  from 
my  country,  whose  advantages  and  blessings  this  four  months'  absence  has 
taught  me  to  appreciate  more  dearly  and  to  prize  more  deeply  than  before. 
With  a  glow  of  unwonted^rapture  I  see  our  stately  vessel's  prow  turned  toward 
the  setting  sun,  and  strive  to  realize  that  only  some  ten  days  separate  me  from 
those  I  know  and  love  best  on  earth.  Hark  !  the  last  gun  announces  that  the 
mail-boat  has  left  us,  and  that  we  are  fairly  afloat  on  our  ocean  journey ;  the 
shores  of  Europe  recede  from  our  vision ;  the  watery  waste  is  all  around  us  ; 
and  now,  with  God  above  and  Death  below,  our  gallant  bark  and  her  clustered 
company  together  brave  the  dangers  of  the  mighty  deep.  May  Infinite  Mercy 
watch  over  our  onward  path  and  bring  us  safely  to  our  several  homes  ;  for  to 
die  away  from  home  and  kindred  seems  one  of  the  saddest  calamities  that 
could  befall  me.  This  mortal  tenement  would  rest  uneasily  in  an  ocean 
shroud  ;  this  spirit  reluctantly  resign  that  tenement  to  the  chill  and  pitiless 
brine  ;  these  eyes  close  regretfully  on  the  stranger  skies  and  bleak  inhospital- 
ity  of  the  sullen  and  stormy  main.  No  !  let  me  see  once  more  the  scenes  so 
well  remembered  and  beloved ;  let  me  grasp,  if  but  once  again,  the  hand  of 
Friendship,  and  hear  the  thrilling  accents  of  proved  Affection,  and  when  sooner 
or  later  the  hour  of  mortal  agony  shall  come,  let  my  last  gaze  be  fixed  on  eyes 
that  will  not  forget  me  when  I  am  gone,  and  let  my  ashes  repose  in  that  con- 
genial soil  which,  however  I  may  there  be  esteemed  or  hated,  is  still  ' My  own 
green  land  forever  !'  " 

Neptune  was  more  gracious  to  the  voyager  on  his  homeward  than 
he  had  been  on  his  outward  passage.  The  skies  were  clearer,  the 
winds  more  favorable  and  gentler.  A  few  days,  not  intolerably  dis- 
agreeable, landed  him  on  the  shores  of  Manhattan.  The  ship  reached 
the  wharf  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  cheating  the  expectant 
morning  papers  of  their  foreign  news,  which  the  editor  of  the  Tri- 
bune had  already  '  made  up'  for  publication  on  board  the  steamer. 
However,  he  had  no  sooner  got  on  shore  than  he  rushed  away  to 
the  office,  bent  on  getting  out  an  *  extra'  in  advance  of  all  contempo- 
raries. The  compositors  were  all  absent,  of  course ;  but  boys  were 
forthwith  dispatched  to  summon  them  from  bed  and  breakfast.  Mean- 


RECENTLY.  875 

while,  the  impetuous  Editor-in-Chief  proceeded  with  his  own  hands 
to  set  tbe  matter  in  type,  and  continued  to  assist  till  the  form  was 
ready  to  be  lowered  away  to  the  press-room  in  the  basement.  In 
an  hour  or  two  the  streets  resounded  with  the  cry,  "Extra  Try- 
bune ;  'yival  of  the  Balfo'e."  Then,  but  not  till  then,  Horace  Gree- 
ley  might  have  been  seen  in  a  corner  of  an  omnibus,  going  slowly 
up  town,  towards  his  residence  in  Nineteenth  street. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

EE  C  ENTLY. 

Deliverance  from  Party— A  Private  Platform— Last  Interview  with  Henry  Clay— Horace 
Greeley  a  Farmer — He  irrigates  and  drains — His  Advice  to  a  Young  Man — The 
Daily  Times— A  costly  Mistake— The  Isms  of  the  Tribune— The  Tribune  gets 
Glory — The  Tribune  in  Parliament — Proposed  Nomination  for  Governor — His  Life 
written — A  Judge's  Daughter  for  Sale. 

DUEING  the  first  eight  or  nine  volumes  of  the  Tribune,  the  history 
of  that  newspaper  and  the  life  of  Horace  Greeley  were  one  and  the 
same  thing.  But  the  time  has  passed,  and  passed  forever,  when  a 
New  York  morning  paper  can  be  the  vehicle  of  a  single  mind. 
Since  the  year  1850,  when  the  Tribune  came  upon  the  town  as  a 
double  sheet  nearly  twice  its  original  size,  its  affairs  have  had  a  me- 
tropolitan complexity  and  extensiveness,  and  Horace  Greeley  has 
run  through  it  only  as  the  original  stream  courses  its  way  through 
a  river  swollen  and  expanded  by  many  tributaries.  The  quaffing 
traveler  cannot  tell,  as  he  rises  from  the  shore  refreshed,  whether 
he  has  been  drinking  Hudson,  or  Mohawk,  or  Moodna,  or  two  of 
them  mingled,  or  one  of  the  hundred  rivulets  that  trickle  into  the 
ample  stream  upon  which  fleets  and  '  palaces'  securely  ride.  Some 
wayfarers  think  they  can,  but  they  cannot;  and  their  erroneous 
guesses  are  among  the  amusements  of  the  tributary  corps.  Occa- 
sionally, however,  the  original  Greeley  flavor  is  recognizable  to  the 
dullest  palate. 

The  most  important  recent  event  in  the  history  of  the  Tribune 


376  RECENTLY. 

occurred  in  November,  1852,  when,  on  the  defeat  of  General  Scott 
and  the  annihilation  of  the  "Whig  party,  it  ceased  to  be  a  party 
paper,  and  its  editor  ceased  to  be  a  party  man.  And  this  blessed 
emancipation,  with  its  effect  upon  the  press  of  the  country,  was 
worth  that  disaster.  We  never  had  great  newspapers  in  this  coun- 
try while  our  leading  papers  gave  allegiance  to  party,  and  never 
could  have  had.  A  great  newspaper  must  be  above  everything  and 
everybody.  Its  independence  must  be  absolute,  and  then  its  power 
will  be  as  nearly  so  as  it  ought  to  be. 

It  was  fit  that  the  last  triumph  of  party  should  be  its  greatest,  and 
that  triumph  was  secured  when  it  enlisted  such  a  man  as  Horace 
Greeley  as  the  special  and  head  champion  of  a  man  like  General 
Scott.  But  as  a  partisan,  what  other  choice  had  he  ?  To  use  his 
own  language,  he  supported  Scott  and  Graham,  because, 

"1.  They  can  be  elected,  and  the  others  can't. 

"  2.  They  are  openly  and  thoroughly  for  PROTECTION  TO  HOME  INDUSTRY, 
while  the  others,  (judged  by  their  supporters,)  lean  to  Free  Trade. 

"  3.  Scott  and  Graham  are  backed  by  the  general  support  of  those  who  hold 
with  us,  that  government  may  and  should  do  much  positive  good.1' 

At  the  same  time  he  '  spat  upon  the  (Baltimore  compromise,  pro- 
fugitive  law)  platform,'  and  in  its  place,  gave  one  of  his  own.  As 
this  private  platform  is  the  most  condensed  and  characteristic  state- 
ment of  Horace  Greeley's  political  opinions  that  I  have  seen,  it  may 
properly  be  printed  here. 

OUR  PLATFORM. 

" 1.  As  to  the  Tariff1: — Duties  on  Imports — specific  BO  far  as  practicable,  af- 
fording ample  protection  to  undeveloped  or  peculiarly  exposed  branches  of 
our  National  Industry,  and  adequate  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  payment  of  its  debts.  Low  duties,  as  a  general  rule,  on  rude, 
bulky  staples,  whereof  the  cost  of  transportation  is  of  itself  equivalent  to  a 
heavy  impost,  and  high  duties  on  such  fabrics,  wares,  &c.,  as  come  into  de- 
pressing competition  with  our  own  depressed  infantile  or  endangered  pursuits. 

"  II.  As  to  National  Works  : — Liberal  appropriations  yearly  for  the  improve- 
ment of  rivers  and  harbors,  and  such  eminently  national  enterprises  as  the 
Saut  St.  Marie  canal  and  the  Pacific  railroad  from  the  Mississippi.  Cut  down 
the  expenditures  for  forts,  ships,  troops  and  warlike  enginery  of  all  kinds,  and 
add  largely  to  those  for  works  which  do  not  '  perish  in  the  using,'  but  will  re- 


A   PRIVATE    PLATFORM.  377 

main  for  ages  to  benefit  our  people,  strengthen  the  Union,  and  contribute  far 
more  to  the  national  defense  than  the  costly  machinery  of  war  ever  could. 

"  III.  As  to  Foreign  Policy : — '  Do  unto  others  [the  weak  and  oppressed 
as  well  as  the  powerful  and  mighty}  as  we  would  have  them  do  unto  us.' 
No  shuffling,  no  evasion  of  duties  nor  shirking  responsibilities,  but  a  firm 
front  to  despots,  a  prompt  rebuke  to  every  outrage  on  the  law  of  Nations,  and 
a  generous,  active  sympathy  with  the  victims  of  tyranny  and  usurpation. 

"  IV.  As  to  Slavery  : — No  interference  by  Congress  with  its  existence  in  any 
slave  State,  but  a  firm  and  vigilant  resistance  to  its  legalization  in  any  national 
Territory,  or  the  acquisition  of  any  foreign  Territory  wherein  slavery  may  ex- 
ist. A  perpetual  protest  against  the  hunting  of  fugitive  slaves  in  free  States 
ajs  an  irresistible  cause  of  agitation,  ill  feeling  and  alienation  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  A  firm,  earnest,  inflexible  testimony,  in  common  with 
the  whole  non-slaveholding  Christian  world,  that  human  slavery,  though  le- 
gally protected,  is  morally  wrong,  and  ought  to  be  speedily  terminated. 

"  Y.  As  to  State  rights: — More  regard  for  and  less  cant  about  them. 

"  VI.  ONE  PRESIDENTIAL  TEHM,  and  no  man  a  candidate  for  any  office  while 
wielding  the  vast  patronage  of  the  national  executive. 

"  VII.  REFORM  IN  CONGRESS  : — Payment  by  the  session,  with  a  rigorous  de- 
duction for  each  day's  absence,  and  a  reduction  and  straightening  of  mileage. 
We  would  suggest  $2,000  compensation  for  the  first  (or  long),  and  81,000  for 
the  second  (or  short)  session  ;  with  ten  cents  per  mile  for  traveling  (by  a  bee- 
line)  to  and  from  Washington." 

The  Tribune  fought  gallantly  for  Scott,  and  made  no  wry  faces  at 
the  '  brogue,'  or  any  other  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  candidate's 
stump  efforts.  When  the  sorry  fight  was  over,  the  Tribune  submit- 
ted with  its  usual  good  humor,  spoke  jocularly  of  the  '  late  whig 
party,'  declared  its  independence  of  party  organizations  for  the  fu- 
ture, and  avowed  its  continued  adhesion  to  all  the  principles  which 
it  had  hoped  to  promote  by  battling  with  the  whigs.  It  would  still 
war  with  the  aggressions  of  the  slave  power,  still  strive  for  free 
homesteads,  still  denounce  the  fillibusters,  and  still  argue  for  the 
Maine  Law. 

"  ( Doctor,"  said  a  querulous,  suffering  invalid  who  had  paid  a  good  deal  of 
money  for  physic  to  little  apparent  purpose,  "  you  don't  seem  to  reach  the 
seat  of  my  disease.  Why  don't  you  strike  at  the  seat  of  my  disorder  1" 

"  '  Well,  I  will,"  was  the  prompt  reply,  "  if  you  insist  on  it ;"  and,  lifting 
his  cane,  he  smashed  the  brandy  bottle  on  the  sideboard.'  " 

And  thus  ended  the  long  connection  of  the  New  York  Tribune 
with  the  whig  party. 


378  RECENTLY. 

In  the  summer  of  1852,  Horace  Greeley  performed  the  melan- 
choly duty  of  finishing  Sargent's  Life  of  Henry  Clay.  He  added 
little,  however,  to  Mr.  Sargent's  narrative,  except  the  proceedings 
of  Congress  on  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Clay's  death  and  funeral.  One 
paragraph,  descriptive  of  the  last  interview  between  the  dying 
statesman  and  the  editor  of  the  Tribune,  claims  insertion: 

"Learning  from  others,"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  "how  ill  and  feeble  he 
was,  I  had  not  intended  to  call  upon  him,  and  remained  two  days 
under  the  same  roof  without  asking  permission  to  do  so.  Mean- 
time, however,  he  was  casually  informed  of  my  being  in  Washing- 
ton, and  sent  me  a  request  to  call  at  his  room.  I  did  so,  and  enjoyed 
a  half  hour's  free  and  friendly  conversation  with  him,  the  saddest 
and  the  last !  His  state  was  even  worse  than  I  feared ;  he  was 
already  emaciated,  a  prey  to  a  severe  and  distressing  cough,  and 
complained  of  spells  of  difficult  breathing.  I  think  no  physician 
could  have  judged  him  likely  to  live  two  months  longer.  Yet  his 
mind  was  unclouded  and  brilliant  as  ever,  his  aspirations  for  his 
country's  welfare  as  ardent ;  and,  though  all  personal  ambition  had 
long  been  banished,  his  interest  in  the  events  and  impulses  of  the 
day  was  nowise  diminished.  He  listened  attentively  to  all  I  had 
to  say  of  the  repulsive  aspects  and  revolting  features  of  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law  and  the  necessary  tendency  of  its  operation  to  ex- 
cite hostility  and  alienation  on  the  part  of  our  Northern  people, 
unaccustomed  to  Slavery,  and  seeing  it  exemplified  only  in  the 
brutal  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  some  humble  and  inoffensive 
negro  whom  they  had  learned  to  regard  as  a  neighbor.  I  think  I 
may  without  impropriety  say  that  Mr.  Clay  regretted  that  more 
care  had  not  been  taken  in  its  passage  to  divest  this  act  of  features 
needlessly  repulsive  to  Northern  sentiment,  though  he  did  not  deem 
any  change  in  its  provisions  now  practicable." 

A  strange,  but  not  inexplicable,  fondness  existed  in  the  bosom  of 
Horace  Greeley  for  the  aspiring  chieftain  of  the  Whig  party.  Very 
masculine  men,  men  of  complete  physical  development,  the  gallant, 
the  graceful,  the  daring,  often  enjoy  the  sincere  homage  of  souls 
superior  to  their  own ;  because  such  are  apt  to  place  an  extravagant 
value  upon  the  shining  qualities  which  they  do  not  possess.  From 
Webster,  the  great  over-Praised,  the  false  god  of  cold  New  Eng- 


HORACE  GREELEY  A  FARMER.  379 

land,  Horace  Greeley  seems  ever  to  have  shrunk  with  an  instinc- 
tive aversion. 

As  he  lost  his  interest  in  party  politics,  his  mind  reverted  to  the 
soil.  He  yearned  for  the  repose  and  the  calm  delights  of  country 
life. 

"  As  for  me,"  he  said,  at  the  conclusion  of  an  address  before  the 
Indiana  State  Agricultural  Society,  delivered  in  October,  1853,  "as 
for  me,  long- tossed  on  the  stormiest  waves  of  doubtful  conflict  and 
arduous  endeavor,  I  have  begun  to  feel,  since  the  shades  of  forty 
years  fell  upon  me,  the  weary,  tempest-driven  voyager's  longing  for 
land,  the  wanderer's  yearning  for  the  hamlet  where  in  childhood  he 
nestled  by  his  mother's  knee,  and  was  soothed  to  sleep  on  her 
breast.  The  sober  down-hill  of  life  dispels  many  illusions,  while  it 
developes  or  strengthens  within  us  the  attachment,  perhaps  long 
smothered  or  overlaid,  for  '  that  dear  hut,  our  home.'  And  so  I,  in 
the  sober  afternoon  of  life,  when  its  sun,  if  not  high,  is  still  warm, 
have  bought  a  few  acres  of  land  in  the  broad,  still  country,  and, 
bearing  thither  my  household  treasures,  have  resolved  to  steal  from 
the  City's  labors  and  anxieties  at  least  one  day  in  each  week,  wherein 
to  revive  as  a  farmer  the  memories  of  my  childhood's  humble 
home.  And  already  I  realize  that  the  experiment  cannot  cost  so 
much  as  it  is  worth.  Already  I  find  in  that  day's  quiet  an  anti- 
dote and  a  solace  for  the  feverish,  festering  cares  of  the  weeks  which 
environ  it.  Already  my  brook  murmurs  a  soothing  even-song  to 
my  burning,  throbbing  brain ;  and  my  trees,  gently  stirred  by  the 
fresh  breezes,  whisper  to  my  spirit  something  of  their  own  quiet 
strength  and  patient  trust  in  God.  And  thus  do  I  faintly  realize, 
though  but  for  a  brief  and  flitting  day,  the  serene  joy  which  shall 
irradiate  the  Farmer's  vocation,  when  a  fuller  and  truer  Education 
shall  have  refined  and  chastened  his  animal  cravings,  and  when 
Science  shall  have  endowed  him  with  her  treasures,  redeeming  La- 
bor from  drudgery  while  quadrupling  its  efficiency,  and  crowning 
with  beauty  and  plenty  our  bounteous,  beneficent  Earth." 

The  portion  of  the  '  broad,  still  country '  alluded  to  in  this  elo- 
quent passage,  is  a  farm  of  fifty  acres  in  Westchester  county,  near 
Newcastle,  close  to  the  Harlem  railroad,  thirty-four  miles  from  the 
city  of  New  York.  Thither  the  tired  editor  repairs  every  Saturday 
morning  by  an  early  train,  and  there  he  remains  directing  and  as- 


380  RECENTLY. 

sisting  in  the  labors  of  the  farm  for  that  single  day  only,  returning 
early  enough  on  Sunday  to  hear  the  flowing  rhetoric  of  Mr.  Oha- 
pin's  morning  sermon.  From  church — to  the  office  and  to  work. 

This  farm  has  seen  marvellous  things  done  on  it  during  the  three 
years  of  Mr.  Greeley's  ownership.  What  it  was  when  he  bought  it 
may  be  partly  inferred  from  another  passage  of  the  same  address : 
"  I  once  went  to  look  at  a  farm  of  fifty  acres  that  I  thought  of  buy- 
ing for  a  summer  home,  some  forty  miles  from  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  owner  had  been  born  on  it,  as  I  believe  had  his  father 
before  him ;  but  it  yielded  only  a  meager  subsistence  for  his  family, 
and  he  thought  of  selling  and  going  West.  I  went  over  it  with  him 
late  in  June,  passing  through  a  well-filled  barn-yard  which  had  not 
been  disturbed  that  season,  and  stepping  thence  into  a  corn-field  of 
five  acres,  with  a  like  field  of  potatoes  just  beyond  it.  '  Why, 
neighbor!'  asked  I,  in  astonishment,  'how  could  you  leave  all  this 
manure  so  handy  to  youp  plowed  land,  and  plant  ten  acres  without 
any  ?'  '  O,  I  was  sick  a  good  part  of  the  spring,  and  so  hurried 
that  I  could  not  find  time  to  haul  it  out.'  '  Why,  suppose  you  had 
planted  but  five  acres  in  all,  and  emptied  your  barn-yard  on  those 
five,  leaving  the  residue  untouched,  don't  you  think  you  would 
have  harvested  a  larger  crop  ?'  '  Well,  perhaps  I  should,'  was  the 
poor  farmer's  response.  It  seemed  never  before  to  have  occurred  to 
him  that  he  could  let  alone  a  part  of  his  land.  Had  he  progressed 
so  far,  he  might  have  ventured  thence  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
less  expensive  and  more  profitable  to  raise  a  full  crop  on  five  acres 
than  half  a  crop  on  ten.  I  am  sorry  to  say  we  have  a  good  many 
such  farmers  still  left  at  the  East."  But,  he  might  have  added, 
Horace  Greeley  is  not  one  of  them.  He  did  not,  however,  and  the 
deficiency  shall  here  be  supplied. 

The  farm  is  at  present  a  practical  commentary  upon  the  oft- 
repeated  recommendations  of  the  Tribune  with  regard  to  '  high 
farming.'  It  consisted,  three  years  ago.  of  grove,  bog,  and  exhaust- 
ed upland,  in  nearly  equal  proportions.  In  the  grove,  which  is  a 
fine  growth  of  hickory,  hemlock,  iron-wood  and  oak,  a  small  white 
cottage  is  concealed,  built  by  Mr.  Greeley,  at  a  cost  of  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  farm-buildings,  far  more  costly  and  expensive, 
are  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  the  house  stands,  and  around 
them  are  the  gardens.  The  marshy  land,  which  was  formerly  very 


H3E   IRRIGATES   AND    DRAINS.  8&1 

wet,  very  boggy,  and  quite  useless,  has  been  drained  by  a  system 
of  ditches  and  tiles  ;  the  bogs  have  been  pared  off  and  burnt,  tho 
land  plowed  and  planted,  and  made  exceedingly  productive.  The 
upland  has  been  prepared  for  irrigation,  the  water  being  supplied 
by  a  brook,  which  tumbled  down  the  hill  through  a  deep  glen.  Its 
course  was  arrested  by  a  dam,  and  from  the  reservoir  thus  formed, 
pipes  are  laid  to  the  different  fields,  which  can  be  inundated  or 
drained  by  the  turning  of  a  cock.  The  experiment  of  irrigation, 
however,  has  been  suspended.  Last  spring  the  brook,  swollen  with 
rage  at  the  loss  of  its  ancient  liberty,  burst  through  the  dam,  and 
scattered  four  thousand  dollars  worth  of  solid  masonry  in  the  space 
of  a  minute  and  a  half.  This  year  a  new  attempt  will  be  made  to 
reduce  it  to  submission,  and  conduct  its  waters  in  peaceful  and  fer- 
tilizing rivulets  down  the  rows  of  corn  and  potatoes.  Then  Mr. 
Greeley  can  take  down  his  weather-cock,  and  smile  in  the  midst 
of  drought,  water  his  crops  with  less  trouble  than  he  can  water  his 
horses,  and  sow  turnips  in  July,  regardless  of  the  clouds.  If  a  crop 
is  well  put  in  the  ground,  and  well  cared  for  as  it  progresses,  its 
perfect  success  depends  upon  two  things,  water  and  sunshine. 
Science  has  enabled  the  farmer  partly  to  regulate  the  supply  of  the 
latter,  and  perfectly  to  regulate  the  supply  of  the  former.  The 
slant  of  the  hills,  the  reflection  of  walls,  glass  covers,  trees,  awn- 
ings, and  other  contrivances,  may  be  made  to  concentrate  or  ward 
off  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Irrigation  and  drainage  go  far  to  complete 
the  farmer's  independence  of  the  wayward  weather.  In  all  the 
operations  of  his  little  farm,  Mr.  Greeley  takes  the  liveliest  interest, 
and  he  means  to  astonish  his  neighbors  with  some  wonderful  crops, 
by-and-bye,  when  he  has  everything  in  training.  Indeed,  he  may 
have  done  so  already ;  as,  in  the  list  of  prizes  awarded  at  our  last 
Agricultural  State  Fair,  held  in  New  York,  October,  1854,  we  read, 
under  the  head  of  '  vegetables,' these  two  items: — "Turnips,  H. 
Greeley,  Chappaqua,  "Westchester  Co.,  Two  Dollars,"  (the  second 
prize) ;  "  Twelve  second-best  ears  of  "White  Seed  Corn,  H.  Greeley, 
Two  Dollars."  Looking  down  over  the  reclaimed  swamp,  all  bright 
now  with  waving  flax,  he  said  one  day,  "  All  else  that  I  have  done 
may  be  of  no  avail ;  but  what  I  have  done  here  is  done  ;  it  will  last.'* 
A  private  letter,  written  about  this  time,  appeared  in  the  country 
papers,  and  still  emerges  occasionally.  A  young  man  wrote  to  Mr. 


382  RECENTLY. 

Greeley,  requesting  Ms  advice  upon  a  project  of  going  to  college 
and  studying  law.     The  reply  was  as  follows  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIB, — Had  you  asked  me  whether  I  would  advise  you  to  desert 
agriculture  for  law,  I  should  have  answered  no  !  very  decidedly.  There  is 
already  a  superabundance  of  lawyers,  coupled  with  a  great  scarcity  of  good 
farmers.  Why  carry  your  coals  to  Newcastle  ? 

"  As  to  a  collegiate  education,  my  own  lack  of  it  probably  disqualifies  me 
to  appreciate  it  fully ;  but  I  think  you  might  better  be  learning  to  fiddle. 
And  if  you  are  without  means,  I  would  advise  you  to  hire  ten  acres  of  good 
laud,  work  ten  hours  a  day  on  it,  for  five  days  each  week,  and  devote  all  your 
spare  hours  to  reading  and  study,  especially  to  the  study  of  agricultural 
sciences,  and  thus  c  owe  no  man  anything,'  while  you  receive  a  thorough 
practical  education.  Such  is  not  the  advice  you  seek  ;  nevertheless,  I  remain 
yours,  HORACE  GREELEY." 

This  letter  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of  hundreds  of  similar  ones. 
Probably  there  never  lived  a  man  to  whom  so  many  perplexed  in- 
dividuals applied  for  advice  and  aid,  as  to  Horace  Greeley.  He 
might  with  great  advantage  have  taken  a  hint  from  the  practice  of 
Field  Marshal  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who,  it  is  said,  had  forms 
of  reply  printed,  which  he  filled  up  and  dispatched  to  anxious  cor- 
respondents, with  commendable  promptitude.  From  facts  which  I 
have  observed,  and  from  others  of  which  I  have  heard,  I  think  it 
safe  to  say,  that  Horace  Greeley  receives,  on  an  average,  five  appli- 
cations daily  for  advice  and  assistance.  His  advice  he  gives  very 
freely,  but  the  wealth  of  Astor  would  not  suffice  to  answer  all  his 
begging  letters  in  the  way  the  writers  of  them  desire. 

In  the  fall  of  1852,  the  Daily  Times  was  started  by  Mr.  H.  J. 
Raymond,  an  event  which  gave  an  impetus  to  the  daily  press  of  the 
city.  The  success  of  the  Times  was  signal  and  immediate,  for  three 
reasons :  1,  it  was  conducted  with  tact,  industry  and  prudence ; 
2,  it  was  not  the  Herald  ;  3,  it  was  not  the  Tribune.  Before  the 
Times  appeared,  the  Tribune  and  Herald  shared  the  cream  of  the 
daily  paper  business  between  them ;  but  there  was  a  large  class 
who  disliked  the  Tribune's  principles  -and  the  Herald's  want  of 
principle.  The  majority  of  people  take  a  daily  paper  solely  to  as- 
certain what  is  going  on  in  the  world.  They  are  averse  to  profli- 
gacy and  time-serving,  and  yet  are  offended  at  the  independent 
avowal  of  ideas  in  advance  of  their  own.  And  though  Horace 


A   COSTLY    MISTAKE.  383 

Greeley  is  not  the  least  conservative  of  men,  yet,  from  his  practice 
of  giving  every  new  thought  and  every  new  man  a  hearing  in  the 
columns  of  his  paper,  unthinking  persons  received  the  impression 
that  he  was  an  advocate  of  every  new  idea,  and  a  champion  of  every 
new  man.  They  thought  the  Tribune  was  an  unsafe,  disorganizing 
paper.  "  An  excellent  paper,"  said  they,  "and  honest,  but  then  it  's 
so  full  of  isms  /"  The  Times  stepped  in  with  a  complaisant  bow, 
and  won  over  twenty  thousand  of  the  ism-hating  class  in  a  single 
year,  and  yet  without  reducing  the  circulation  of  either  of  its  elder 
rivals.  "Where  those  twenty  thousand  subscribers  came  from  is  one 
of  the  mysteries  of  journalism. 

In  the  spring  of  1853  the  Tribune  signalized  its  'entrance  into 
its  teens'  by  making  a  very  costly  mistake.  It  enlarged  its  borders 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  price  of  subscription  did  not  quite  cover 
the  cost  of  the  white  paper  upon  which  it  was  printed,  thus  throw- 
ing the  burden  of  its  support  upon  the  advertiser.  And  this,  too, 
in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  Tribune,  though  the  best  vehicle  of 
advertising  then  in  existence,  was  in  least  favor  among  the  class 
whose  advertising  is  the  most  profitable.  Yet  it  was  natural  for 
Horace  Greeley  to  commit  an  error  of  this  kind.  Years  ago  he  had 
written,  "  Better  a  dinner  of  herbs  with  a  large  circulation  than  a 
stalled  ox  with  a  small  one."  And,  in  announcing  the  enlargement, 
he  said,  "  We  are  confessedly  ambitious  to  make  the  Tribune  the 
leading  journal  of  America,  and  have  dared  and  done  somewhat  to 
that  end." 

How  much  he  '  dared'  in  the  case  of  this  enlargement  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that  it  involved  an  addition  of  $1,044  to  the 
weekly,  $54,329  to  the  annual,  expenses  of  the  concern.  Yet  he 
'  dared'  not  add  a  cent  to  the  price  of  the  paper,  which  it  is  thought 
he  might  have  done  with  perfect  safety,  because  those  who  like  the 
Tribune  like  it  very  much,  and  will  have  it  at  any  price.  Men  have 
been  heard  to  talk  of  their  Bible,  their  Shakspeare,  and  their  Tri- 
bune, as  the  three  necessities  of  their  spiritual  life;  while  those 
who  dislike  it,  dislike  it  excessively,  and  are  wont  to  protest  that 
they  should  deem  their  houses  defiled  by  itspresence.  The  Tribune, 
however,  stepped  bravely  out  under  its  self-imposed  load  of  white 
paper.  In  one  year  the  circulation  of  the  Daily  increased  from 
17,640  to  26,880,  the  Semi- Weekly  from  3,120  to  11,400,  the  Week- 


RECENTtt. 


ly  from  51,000  to  103,680,  the  California  Tribune  from  £,800  to 
3,500,  and  the  receipts  of  the  office  increased  $70,900.  The  profits, 
however,  were  inadequate  to  reward  suitably  the  exertions  of 
its  proprietors,  and  recently  the  paper  was  slightly  reduced  in 


The  enlargement  called  public  attention  to  the  career  and  the 
merits  of  the  Tribune  in  a  remarkable  manner.  The  press  gener- 
ally applauded  its  spirit,  ability  and  courage,  but  deplored  its  isms, 
which  gave  rise  to  a  set  article  in  the  Tribune  on  the  subject  of  isms. 
This  is  the  substance  of  the  Tribune's  opinions  of  isms  and  ismists. 
It  is  worth  considering'; 

"  A  very  natural  division  of  mankind  is  that  which  contemplates  them  in 
two  classes — those  who  think  for  themselves,  and  those  who  have  their  think- 
ing done  by  others,  dead  or  living.  With  the  former  class,  the  paramount 
consideration  is—'  What  is  right  ?'  With  the  latter,  the  first  inquiry  is— 

*  What  do  the  majority,  or  the  great,  or  the  pious,  or  the  fashionable  think 
about  it  1    How  did  our  fathers  regard  it  ?    What  will  Mrs.  Grundy  say  T 

******** 

"  And  truly,  if  the  life  were  not  more  than  meat — if  its  chief  ends  were 
wealth,  station  and  luxury — then  the  smooth  and  plausible  gentlemen  who  as- 
sent to  whatever  is  popular  without  inquiring  or  caring  whether  it  is  essential- 
ly true  or  false,  are  the  Solomons  of  their  generation. 

"  Yet  in  a  world  so  full  as  this  is  of  wrong  and  suffering,  of  oppression  and 
degradation,  there  must  be  radical  causes  for  so  many  and  so  vast  practical 
-evils.  It  cannot  be  that  the  ideas,  beliefs,  institutions,  usages,  prejudices, 
whereof  such  gigantic  miseries  are  born — wherewith  at  least  they  co-exist — 
transcend  criticism  and  rightfully  refuse  scrutiny.  It  cannot  be  that  the 
springs  are  pure  whence  flow  such  turbid  and  poisonous  currents. 

"  Now  the  Reformer — the  man  who  thinks  for  himself  and  acts  as  his  own 
judgment  and  conscience  dictate — is  very  likely  to  form  erroneous  opinions. 

*  *    *    jjut  Time  will  confirm  and  establish  his  good  works  and  gently 
amend  his  mistakes.    The  detected  error  dies ;  the  misconceived  and  rejected 
truth  is  but  temporarily  obscured  and  soon  vindicates  its  claim  to  general  ac- 
ceptance and  regard. 

"  '  The  world  does  move,3  and  its  motive  power,  under  God,  is  the  fearless 
thought  and  speech  of  those  who  dare  be  in  advance  of  their  time — who  are 
sneered  at  and  shunned  through  their  days  of  struggle  and  of  trial  as  luna- 
tics, dreamers,  impracticables  and  visionaries — men  of  crotchets,  of  vagaries, 
•or  of  '  isms.'  These  are  the  masts  and  sails  of  the  ship,  to  which  Conser- 
vatism answers  as  ballast.  The  ballast  is  important — at  times  indispensable 
— but  it  would  be  of  no  account  if  the  ship  were  not  bound  to  go  ahead." 


THE    TRIBUNE   IN   PARLIAMENT.  885 

Many  papers,  however,  gave  the  Tribune  its  full  due  of  apprecia- 
tion and  praise.  Two  notices  which  appeared  at  the  time  are  worth 
copying,  at  least  in  part.  The  Newark  Mercury  gave  it  this  un- 
equaled  and  deserved  commendation  : — "  We  never  Tcnew  a  man  of 
illiberal  sentiments,  one  unjust  to  Ms  workmen,  and  groveling  in  his 
-aspirations,  who  liked  the  Tribune;  and  it  is  rare  to  find  one  with  lib- 
eral views  who  does  not  admit  its  claims  upon  the  public  regard." 

The  St.  Joseph  Valley  Register,  a  paper  published  at  South  Bend, 
Indiana,  held  the  following  language  : 

"  The  influence  of  the  Tribune  upon  public  opinion  is  greater  even  than  its 
conductors  claim  for  it.  Its  Isms,  with  scarce  an  exception,  though  the  people 
•may  reject  them  at  first,  yet  ripen  into  strength  insensibly.  A  few  years  since 
the  Tribune  commenced  the  advocacy  of  the  principle  of  Free  Lands  for  the 
Landless.  The  first  bill  upon  that  subject,  presented  by  Mr.  Greeley  to  Con- 
gress, was  hooted  out  of  that  body.  But  who  doubts  what  the  result  would  be, 
if  the  people  of  the  whole  nation  had  the  right  to  vote  upon  the  question  to- 
day 1  It  struck  the  first  blow  in  earnest  at  the  corruptions  of  the  Mileage  sys- 
tem, and  in  return,  Congressmen  of  all  parties  heaped  opprobrium  upon  it,  and 
calumny  upon  its  Editor.  A  corrupt  Congress  may  postpone  its  Reform,  but 
is  there  any  doubt  of  what  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  people  would  accomplish 
on  this  subject  if  direct  legislation  were  in  their  hands  ?  It  has  inveighed  in 
severe  language  against  the  flimsy  penalties  which  the  American  legislatures 
have  imposed  for  offences  upon  female  virtue.  And  how  many  States,  our  own 
among  the  number,  have  tightened  up  their  legislation  upon  that  subject 
within  the  last  half-dozen  years.  The  blows  that  it  directs  against  Intemper- 
ance have  more  power  than  the  combined  attacks  of  half  the  distinctive  Tem- 
perance Journals  in  the  land.  It  has  contended  for  some  plan  by  which  the 
people  should  choose  their  Presidents  rather  than  National  Conventions  ;  and 
he  must  be  a  careless  observer  of  the  progress  of  events  who  does  not  see  that 
the  Election  of  1856  is  more  likely  to  be  won  by  a  Western  Statesman,  pledged 
solely  to  the  Pacific  Railroad  and  Honest  Government,  than  by  any  political 
nominee.  And,  to  conclude,  the  numerous  Industrial  Associations  of  Workers 
to  manufacture  Iron,  Boots  and  Shoes,  Hats,  &c.,  on  their  own  account,  with 
the  Joint  Stock  Family  Blocks  of  Buildings,  so  popular  now  in  New  York, 
Model  Wash-houses,  &c.,  &c.,  seem  like  a  faint  recognition  at  least  of  the  main 
principles  of  Fourierism  (whose  details  we  like  as  little  as  any  one),  Op- 
portunity for  Work  for  all,  and  Economy  in  the  Expenses  and  Labor  of  the 
Family." 

From  across  the  Atlantic,  also,  came  compliments  for  the  Tri- 
bune, In  one  of  the  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons  upon  the 

17 


386  RECENTLY. 

abolition  of  the  advertisement  dnty,  Mr.  Bright  used  a  copy  of  the 
Tribune,  as  Burke  once  did  a  French  Republican  dagger,  for  the 
purposes  of  his  argument.  Mr.  Bright  said : 

"  He  had  a  newspaper  there  (the  New  York  Tribune),  which  he  was  bound 
to  say,  was  as  good  as  any  published  in  England  this  week.  [The  Hon.  Mem- 
ber here  opened  out  a  copy  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  exhibited  it  to  the 
House.]  It  was  printed  with  a  finer  type  than  any  London  daily  paper.  It 
was  exceedingly  good  as  a  journal,  quite  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  a 
newspaper.  [Spreading  it  out  before  the  House,  the  honorable  gentleman  de- 
tailed its  contents,  commencing  with  very  numerous  advertisements.]  It  con- 
tained various  articles,  amongst  others,  one  against  public  dinners,  in  which  he 
thought  honorable  members  would  fully  agree — one  criticising  our  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer's  budget,  in  part  justly — and  one  upon  the  Manchester 
school ;  but  he  must  say,  as  far  as  the  Manchester  school  went,  it  did  not  do 
them  justice  at  all.  [Laughter.]  He  ventured  to  say  that  there  was  not  a 
better  paper  than  this  in  London.  Moreover,  it  especially  wrote  in  favor  of 
Temperance  and  Anti-Slavery,  and  though  honorable  members  were  not  all 
members  of  the  Temperance  Society  perhaps,  they  yet,  he  was  sure,  all  ad- 
mitted the  advantages  of  Temperance,  while  not  a  voice  could  be  lifted  there 
in  favor  of  Slavery.  Here,  then,  was  a  newspaper  advocating  great  princi- 
ples, and  conducted  in  all  respects  with  the  greatest  propriety — a  newspaper 
in  which  he  found  not  a  syllable  that  he  might  not  put  on  his  table  and  allow 
his  wife  and  daughter  to  read  with  satisfaction.  And  this  was  placed  on  the 
table  every  morning  for  Id.  [Hear,  hear.]  What  he  wanted,  then,  to  ask  the 
Government,  was  this — How  comes  it,  and  for  what  good  end,  and  by  what 
contrivance  of  fiscal  oppression — for  it  can  be  nothing  else — was  it,  that  while 
the  workman  of  New  York  could  have  such  a  paper  on  his  breakfast  table 
every  morning  for  Id.,  the  workman  of  London  must  go  without  or  pay  five- 
pence  for  the  accommodation  ?  [Hear,  hear.]  How  was  it  possible  that  the 
latter  could  keep  up  with  his  transatlantic  competitor  in  the  race,  if  one  had 
daily  intelligence  of  everything  that  was  stirring  in  the  world,  while  the  other 
was  kept  completely  in  ignorance  1  [Hear,  hear.]  "Were  they  not  running  a 
race,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  with  the  people  of  America  ?  Were  not  the 
Collins  and  Gunard  lines  calculating  their  voyages  to  within  sixteen  minutes 
of  time  1  And  if,  while  such  a  race  was  going  on,  the  one  artisan  paid  five- 
pence  for  the  daily  intelligence  which  the  other  obtained  for  a  penny,  how 
was  it  possible  that  the  former  could  keep  his  place  in  the  international  rival- 
ry 1  [Hear,  hear.]" 

This  visible,  tangible,  and  unanswerable  argument  had  its  effect. 
The  advertisement  duty  has  been  abolished,  and  now  only  the  stamp 
duty  intervenes  between  the  English  workingman  and  his  penny 


AN    EDITORIAL   REPARTEE.  887 

paper — the  future  Tribune  of  the  English  people,  whicli  is  to  ex- 
pound their  duties  and  defend  their  rights. 

In  the  summer  of  1854,  Mr.  Greeley  was  frequently  spoken  of  in 
the  papers  in  connection  with  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  A  very  little  of  the  usual  manoeuvring  on  his  part 
would  have  secured  his  nomination,  and  if  he  had  been  nominated, 
he  would  have  been  elected  by  a  majority  that  would  have  surprised 
politicians  by  trade. 

In  1854,  his  life  was  written  by  a  young  and  unknown  scribbler 
for  the  press,  who  had  observed  his  career  with  much  interest,  and 
who  knew  enough  of  the  story  of  his  life  to  be  aware,  that,  if  sim- 
ply told,  that  story  would  be  read  with  pleasure  and  do  good. 
This  volume  is  the  result  of  his  labors. 

Here,  this  chapter  had  ended,  and  it  was  about  to  be  consigned 
to  the  hands  of  the  printer.  But  an  event  transpires  which,  it  is 
urgently  suggested,  ought  to  have  notice.  It  is  nothing  more  than 
a  new  and  peculiarly  characteristic  editorial  repartee,  or  rather,  a 
public  reply  by  Mr.  Greeley  to  a  private  letter.  And  though  the 
force  of  the  reply  was  greatly,  and  quite  unnecessarily,  diminished 
by  the  publication  of  the  correspondent's  name  and  address,  con- 
trary to  his  request,  yet  the  correspondence  seems  too  interesting 
to  be  omitted : 

THE    LETTER. 

" COUNTY,  Miss.,  Sept.  1854. 

"  HON.  HORACE  GREELEY,  New  York  City  : 

"  My  object  in  addressing  you  these  lines  is  this  :  I  own  a  negro  girl  named 
Catharine,  a  bright  mulatto,  aged  between  twenty-eight  and  thirty  years, 
who  is  intelligent  and  beautiful.  The  girl  wishes  to  obtain  her  freedom,  and 
reside  in  either  Ohio  or  New  York  State  ;  and,  to  gratify  her  desire,  I  am 
willing  to  take  the  sum  of  $1,000,  which  the  friends  of  liberty  will  no  doubt 
make  up.  Catharine,  as  she  tells  me,  was  born  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  was 
a  daughter  of  a  Judge  Hopkins,  and,  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  accompanied 
her  young  mistress  (who  was  a  legitimate  daughter  of  the  Judge's)  on  a  visit 
to  New  Orleans,  where  she  (the  legitimate)  died.  Catharine  was  then  seized 
and  sold  by  the  Sheriff  of  New  Orleans,  under  attachment,  to  pay  the  debts 
contracted  in  the  city  by  her  young  mistress,  and  was  purchased  by  a  Dutch- 
man named  Shinoski.  Shinoski,  being  pleased  with  the  young  girl's  looks, 
placed  her  in  a  quadroon  school,  and  gave  her  a  good  education.  The  girl  can 


888  RECENTLY. 

read  and  write  as  well  or  better  than  myself,  and  speaks  the  Dutch  and 
French  languages  almost  to  perfection.  When  the  girl  attained  the  age  of 
eighteen,  Shinoski  died,  and  she  was  again  sold,  and  fell  into  a  trader's  hands, 
by  the  name  of  John  Valentine,  a  native  of  your  State.  Valentine  brought 

her  up  to ,  where  I  purchased  her  in  1844,  for  the  sum  of  $1,150. 

Catharine  is  considered  the  best  seamstress  and  cook  in  this  county,  and  I 
could  to-morrow  sell  her  for  $1,600,  but  I  prefer  letting  her  go  for  $1,000,  so 
that  she  may  obtain  her  freedom.  She  has  had  opportunities  to  get  to  a  free 
State,  aud  obtain  her  freedom  ;  but  she  says  that  she  will  never  run  away  to 
do  it.  Her  father,  she  says,  promised  to  free  her,  and  so  did  Shinoski.  If  I  was 
able,  I  would  free  her  without  any  compensation,  but  losing  $15,000  on  the 
last  presidential  election  has  taken  very  near  my  all. 

"Mr.  Geo.  D.  Prentice,  editor  of  the  Louisville  (Ky.)  Journal,  knows  me 
very  well  by  character,  to  whom  (if  you  wish  to  make  any  inquiries  regard- 
ing this  matter)  you  are  at  liberty  to  refer. 

"  If  you  should  make  any  publication  in  your  paper  in  relation  to  this 
matter,  you  will  please  not  mention  my  name  in  connection  with  it,  nor  the 
place  whence  this  letter  was  written.  Catharine  is  honest ;  and,  for  the  ten 
years  that  I  have  owned  her,  I  never  struck  her  a  lick,  about  her  work  or 
anything  else. 

"  If  it  was  not  that  I  intend  to  emigrate  to  California,  money  could  not 
buy  her. 

"  I  have  given  you  a  complete  and  accurate  statement  concerning  this  girl, 
and  am  willing  that  she  shall  be  examined  here,  or  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  before 
the  bargain  is  closed. 

"  Very  respectfully. 

[Name  in  full.] 

REPLY. 

"  Mr. ,  I  have  carried  your  letter  of  the  28th  ult.  in  my  hat  for 

several  days,  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  answer  it.  I  now  seize  the  first  op- 
portune moment,  and,  as  yours  is  one  of  a  class  with  which  I  am  frequently 
favored,  I  will  send  you  my  reply  through  the  Tribune,  wishing  it  regarded 
as  a  general  answer  to  all  such  applications. 

"  Let  me  begin  by  frankly  stating  that  I  am  not  engaged  in  the  slave 
trade,  and  do  not  now  contemplate  embarking  in  that  business  ;  but  no  man 
can  say  confidently  what  he  may  or  may  not  become  ;  and,  if  I  ever  should 
engage  in  the  traffic  you  suggest,  it  will  be  but  fair  to  remember  you  as 
among  my  prompters  to  undertake  it.  Yet  even  then  I  must  decline  any 
such  examination  as  you  proffer  of  the  property  you  wish  to  dispose  of.  Your 
biography  is  so  full  and  precise,  so  frank  and  straight-forward,  that  I  prefer 
to  rest  satisfied  with  your  assurance  in  the  premises. 

"  You  will  see  that  I  have  disregarded  your  request  that  your  name  and 
residence  should  be  suppressed  by  me.  That  request  seems  to  me  inspired  by 


A  JUDGE'S  DAUGHTER  FOR  SALE.         389 

a  modesty  and  self-sacrifice  unsuited  to  the  Age  of  Brass  we  live  in.  Are 
you  not  seeking  to  do  a  humane  and  generous  act?  Are  you  not  proposing 
to  tax  yourself  $600  in  order  to  raise  an  intelligent,  capable,  deserving 
woman  from  slavery  to  freedom?  Are  you  not  proposing  to  do  this  in  a 
manner  perfectly  lawful  and  unobjectionable,  involving  no  surrender  or  com- 
promise of  '  Southern  Eights'  ?  My  dear  sir !  such  virtue  must  not  be  allow- 
ed to  '  blush  unseen.'  Our  age  needs  the  inspiration  of  heroic  examples,  and 
those  who  would  'do  good  by  stealth,  and  blush  to  find  it  Fame.'  must — by  gentle 
violence,  if  need  be — stand  revealed  to  an  amazed,  admiring  world.  True,  it 
might  (and  might  not)  have  been  still  more  astounding  but  for  your  unlucky 
gambling  on  the  late  presidential  election,  wherein  it  is  hard  to  tell  whether 
you  who  lost  your  money  or  those  who  won  their  president  were  most  unfortun- 
ate.  I  affectionately  advise  you  both  never  to  do  so  again. 

"  And  now  as  to  this  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  Hopkins  of  Savannah, 
Georgia,  whom  you  propose  to  sell  me  : 

"  I  cannot  now  remember  that  I  have  ever  heard  Slavery  justified  on  any 
ground  which  did  not  assert  or  imply  that  it  is  the  best  condition  for  the  negro. 
The  blacks,  we  are  daily  told,  cannot  take  care  of  themselves,  but  sink  into 
idleness,  debauchery,  squalid  poverty  and  utter  brutality,  the  moment  the 
master's  sustaining  rule  and  care  are  withdrawn.  If  this  is  true,  how  dare 
you  turn  this  poor  dependent,  for  whose  well-being  you  are  responsible,  over 
to  me,  who  neither  would  nor  could  exert  a  master's  control  over  her  1  If  this 
slave  ought  not  to  be  set  at  liberty,  why  do  you  ask  me  to  bribe  you  with 
$1,000  to  do  her  that  wrong?  If  she  ought  to  be,  why  should  I  pay  you 
$1,000  for  doing  your  duty  in  the  premises?  You  hold  a  peculiar  and  respon- 
sible relation  to  her,  through  your  own  voluntary  act,  but  /  am  only  related 
to  her  through  Adam,  the  same  as  to  every  Esquimaux,  Patagonian,  or  Now- 
Zealander.  Whatever  may  be  your  duty  in  the  premises,  why  should  I  be 
called  on  to  help  you  discharge  it  ? 

"  Full  as  your  account  of  this  girl  is,  you  say  nothing  of  her  children, 
though  such  she  undoubtedly  has,  whether  they  be  also  those  of  her  several 
masters,  as  she  was,  or  their  fathers  were  her  fellow-slaves.  If  she  is  liber- 
ated and  comes  North,  what  is  to  become  of  them  ?  How  is  she  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  leaving  them  in  slavery  ?  How  can  we  be  assured  that  the  masters 
who  own  or  to  whom  you  will  sell  them  before  leaving  for  California,  will 
prove  as  humane  and  liberal  as  you  are  ? 

"  You  inform  me  that  :  the  friends  of  Liberty '  in  New  York  or  hereabout, 
'will  no  doubt  make  up'  the  $1,000  you  demand,  in  order  to  give  this  daugh- 
ter of  a  Georgia  Judge  her  freedom.  I  think  and  trust  you  misapprehend 
them.  For  though  they  have,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  under  the  impulse  of 
special  appeals  to  their  sympathies,  and  in  view  of  peculiar  dangers  or  hard- 
ships, paid  a  great  deal  more  money  than  they  could  comfortably  spare  (few 
of  them  being  rich)  to  buy  individual  slaves  out  of  bondage,  yet  their  judg- 


890  RECENTLY. 

ment  has  never  approved  such  payment  of  tribute  tp  man-thieveSj  and  every 
day's  earnest  consideration  causes  it  to  be  regarded  with  less  and  less  favor. 
For  it  is  not  the  snatching  of  here  and  there  a  person  from  Slavery,  at  the 
possible  rate  of  one  for  every  thousand  increase  of  our  slave  population,  that 
they  desire,  but  the  overthrow  and  extermination  of  the  slave-holding  system ; 
and  this  end,  they  realize,  is  rather  hindered  than  helped  by  their  buying 
here  and  there  a  slave  into  freedom.  If  by  so  buying  ten  thousand  a  year, 
at  a  cost  of  Ten  Millions  of  Dollars,  they  should  confirm  you  and  other  slave- 
holders in  the  misconception  that  Slavery  is  regarded  without  abhorrence  by 
intelligent  Christian  freemen  at  the  North,  they  would  be  doing  great  harm 
to  their  cause  and  injury  to  their  fellow-Christians  in  bondage.  You  may 
have  heard,  perhaps,  of  the  sentiment  proclaimed  by  Decatur  to  the  slave- 
holders of  the  Barbary  Coast — '  Millions  for  defense — not  a  cent  for  tribute  !' 
— and  perhaps  also  of  its  counterpart  in  the  Scotch  ballad — 

« Instead  of  broad  pieces,  we  '11  pay  them  broadswords  ;'— 

but '  the  friends  of  Liberty'  in  this  quarter  will  fight  her  battle  neither  with 
lead  nor  steel — much  less  with  gold.  Their  trust  is  in  the  might  of  Opinion — 
in  the  resistless  power  of  Truth  where  Discussion  is  untrammeled  and  Com- 
mercial Intercourse  constant — in  the  growing  Humanity  of  our  age — in  the 
deepening  sense  of  Common  Brotherhood — in  the  swelling  hiss  of  Christen- 
dom and  the  just  benignity  of  God.  In  the  earnest  faith  that  these  must  soon 
eradicate  a  wrong  so  gigantic  and  so  palpable  as  Christian  Slavery,  they  se- 
renely await  the  auspicious  hour  which  must  surely  some. 

"  Requesting  you,  Mr. ,  not  to  suppress  my  name  in  case  you  see  fit 

to  reply  to  this,  and  to  be  assured  that  I  write  no  letter  that  I  am  ashamed 
of,  I  remain,  Yours,  so-so, 

"HORACE  GKEELEY." 

And  here,  closing  the  last  volume  of  the  Tribune,  the  reader  is 
invited  to  a  survey  of  the  place  whence  it  was  issued,  to  glance  at 
the  routine  of  the  daily  press,  to  witness  the  scene  in  which  our 
hero  has  labored  so  long.  The  Tribune  building  remains  to  be  ex- 
hibited. 


[MR.  GEEELEY  AND   ME.  DAS  A   IX  THE   EDITORIAL  P.OOMS.] 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

DAY  AND  NIGHT  IN  THE  TKIBUNE   OFFICE. 

The  streets  before  daybreak — Waking  the  newsboys — Morning  scene  in  the  press-room 
—The  Compositor's  room— The  four  Phalanxes— The  Tribune  Directory— A  lull  in 
the  Tribune  office — A  glance  at  the  paper — The  advertisements — Telegraphic  mar- 
vels—Marine Intelligence— New  Publications— Letters  from  the  people— Editorial 
articles— The  editorial  Rooms— The  Sanctum  Sanctorum— Solon  Robinson— Bay- 
ard Taylor — William  Henry  Fry — George  Ripley — Charles  A.  Dana — F.  J.  Ottarson 
— George  M.  Snow — Enter  Horace  Greeley — His  Preliminary  botheration — The 
composing-room  in  tho  erening— The  editors  at  work— Mr.  Greeley's  manner  of 
writing — Midnight— Three  o'clock  in  tho  morning — The  carriers. 

WE  are  in  the  streets,  walking  from  the  regions  where  money  is 
spent  towards  those  narrow  and  crooked  places  wherein  it  is  earned. 
The  day  is  about  to  dawn,  but  the  street  lights  are  still  burning,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  million  people  who  live  within  sight  of  the 
City  Hall's  illuminated  dial,  are  lying  horizontal  and  unconscious,  in 
the  morning's  last  slumber.  The  streets  are  neither  silent  nor  de- 
serted— the  streets  of  New  York  never  are.  The  earliest  milkmen 
have  begun  their  morning  crow,  squeak,  whoop,  and  yell.  The 
first  omnibus  has  not  yet  come  down  town,  but  the  butcher's 
carts,  heaped  with  horrid  flesh,  with  men  sitting  upon  it  reeking 
with  a  night's  carnage,  are  rattling  along  Broadway  at  the  furious 
pace  for  which  the  butcher's  carts  of  all  nations  are  noted.  The 
earliest  workmen  are  abroad,  dinner-kettle  in  hand ;  carriers  with 
their  bundles  of  newspapers  slung  across  their  backs  by  a  strap, 
are  emerging  from  Nassau  street,  and  making  their  way  across  the 
Park — towards  all  the  ferries — up  Broadway — up  Chatham  street — 
to  wherever  their  district  of  distribution  begins.  The  hotels  have 
just  opened  their  doors  and  lighted  up  their  offices ;  and  drowsy 
waiters  are  perambulating  the  interminable  passages,  knocking  up 
passengers  for  the  early  trains,  and  waking  up  everybody  else.  In 
unnumbered  kitchens  the  breakfast  fire  is  kindling,  but  not  yet,  in 
any  except  the  market  restaurants,  is  a  cup  of  coffee  attainable. 
The  very  groggeries— strange  to  see— are  closed.  Apparently,  the 


302  DAY   AND    NIGHT    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

last  drunkard  has  toppled  home,  and  the  last  debauchee  has  skulked 
like  a  thieving  hound  to  his  own  bed ;  for  the  wickedness  of  the 
night  has  been  done,  and  the  work  of  the  day  is  beginning. 
There  is  something  in  the  aspect  of  the  city  at  this  hour — the  stars 
glittering  over-head — the  long  lines  of  gas-lights  that  stretch  away 
in  every  direction — the  few  wayfarers  stealing  in  and  out  among 
them  in  silence,  like  spirits — the  myriad  sign-boards  so  staring  now, 
and  useless — the  houses  all  magnified  in  the  imperfect  light— so- 
many  evidences  of  intense  life  around,  and  yet  so  little  of  life  vis- 
ibly present — which,  to  one  who  sees  it  for  the  first  time  (and  few 
of  us  have  ever  seen  it),  is  strangely  impressive. 

The  Tribune  building  is  before  us.  It  looks  as  we  never  saw  it 
look  before.  The  office  is  closed,  and  a  gas-light  dimly  burning 
shows  that  no  one  is  in  it.  The  dismal  inky  aperture  in  Spruce- 
street  by  which  the  upper  regions  of  the  Tribune  den  are  usually 
reached  is  shut,  and  the  door  is  locked.  That  glare  of  light  which 
on  all  previous  nocturnal  walks  we  have  seen  illuminating  the 
windows  of  the  third  and  fourth  stories,  revealing  the  bobbing  com- 
positor in  his  paper  cap,  and  the  bustling  night-editor  making  up 
his  news,  shines  not  at  this  hour ;  and  those  windows  are  undistin- 
guished from  the  lustreless  ones  of  the  houses  adjacent.  Coiled  up 
on  the  steps,  stretched  out  on  the  pavement,  are  half  a  dozen 
s}eeping  newsboys.  Two  or  three  others  are  awake  and  up,  of 
whom  one  is  devising  and  putting  into  practice  various  modes  of 
suddenly  waking  the  sleepers.  He  rolls  one  off  the  step  to  the 
pavement,  the  shock  of  which  is  very  effectual.  He  deals  another 
who  lies  temptingly  exposed,  a  i  loud-resounding '  slap,  which 
brings  the  slumberer  to  his  feet,  and  to  his  fists,  in  an  instant.  Into 
the  ear  of  a  third  he  yells  the  magic  word  Fire,  a  word  which 
the  New  York  newsboy  never  hears  with  indifference  ;  the  sleeper 
starts  up,  but  perceiving  the  trick,  growls  a  curse  or  two,  and  ad- 
dresses himself  again  to  sleep.  In  a  few  minutes  all  the  boys  are 
awake,  and  taking  their  morning  exercise  of  scuffling.  The  base- 
ment of  the  building,  we  observe,  is  all  a-glow  with  light,  though 
the  clanking  of  the  press  is  silent.  The  carrier's  entrance  is  open, 
and  we  descend  into  the  fiery  bowels  of  the  street. 

We  are  in  the  Tribune's  press-room.  It  is  a  large,  low,  cellar-like 
apartment,  uncoiled,  white-washed,  inky,  and  unclean,  with  a  vast 


MORNING    SCENE    IN    THE    PRESS    ROOM.  393 

folding  table  in  the  middle,  tall  heaps  of  dampened  paper  all  about, 
a  quietly-running  steam  engine  of  nine-horse  .power  on  one  side, 
twenty-five  inky  men  and  boys  variously  employed,  and  the  whole 
brilliantly  lighted  up  by  jets  of  gas,  numerous  and  flaring.  On  one 
side  is  a  kind  of  desk  or  pulpit,  with  a  table  before  it,  and  the 
whole  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  apartment  by  a  rail.  In  the 
pulpit,  the  night- clerk  stands,  counts  and  serves  out  the  papers, 
with  a  nonchalant  and  graceful  rapidity,  that  must  be  seen  to  be 
appreciated.  The  regular  carriers  were  all  served  an  hour  ago ; 
they  have  folded  their  papers  and  gone  their  several  ways ;  and 
early  risers,  two  miles  off,  have  already  read  the  news  of  the  day. 
The  later  newsboys,  now,  keep  dropping  in,  singly,  or  in  squads  of 
three  or  four,  each  with  his  money  ready  in  his  hand.  Usually,  no 
words  pass  between  them  and  the  clerk ;  he  either  knows  how 
many  papers  they  have  come  for,  or  they  show  him  by  exhibiting 
their  money ;  and  in  three  seconds  after  his  eye  lights  upon  a  newly- 
arrived  dirty  face,  he  has  counted  the  requisite  number  of  papers, 
counted  the  money  for  them,  and  thrown  the  papers  in  a  heap  into 
the  boy's  arms,  who  slings  them  over  his  shoulder  and  hurries  off 
for  his  supply  of  Times  and  Heralds.  Occasionally  a  woman  comes 
in  for  a  few  papers,  or  a  little  girl,  or  a  boy  so  small  that  he  cannot 
see  over  the  low  rail  in  front  of  the  clerk,  and  is  obliged  to  an- 
nounce his  presence  and  his  desires  by  holding  above  it  his  little 
cash  capital  in  his  little  black  paw.  In  another  part  of  the  press- 
room, a  dozen  or  fifteen  boys  are  folding  papers  for  the  early  mails, 
and  folding  them  at  the  average  rate  of  thirty  a  minute.  A  boy 
has  folded  sixty  papers  a  minute  in  that  press-room.  Each  paper 
has  to  be  folded  six  times,  and  then  laid  evenly  on  the  pile ;  and 
the  velocity  of  movement  required  for  the  performance  of  such  a 
minute's  work,  the  reader  can  have  no  idea  of  till  he  sees  it  done. 
As  a  feat,  nothing  known  to  the  sporting  world  approaches  it.  The 
huge  presses,  that  shed  six  printed  leaves  at  a  stroke,  are  in  deep 
vaults  adjoining  the  press-room.  They  are  motionless  now,  but  the 
gas  that  has  lighted  them  during  their  morning's  work  still  spurts 
out  in  flame  all  over  them,  and  men  with  blue  shirts  and  black 
faces  are  hoisting  out  the  '  forms  '  that  have  stamped  their  story  on 
thirty  thousand  sheets.  The  vaults  are  oily,  inky,  and  warm.  Let 
us  ascend. 

17* 


394  DAY    AND    NIGHT   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

The  day  has  dawned.  As  we  approach  the  stairs  that  lead  to  the 
upper  stories,  we  get  a  peep  into  a  small,  paved  yard,  where  a 
group  of  pressmen,  blue-overalled,  ink-smeared,  and  pale,  are  wash- 
ing themselves  and  the  ink-rollers  ;  and  looking,  in  the  dim  light  of 
the  morning,  like  writhing  devils.  The  stairs  of  the  Tribune  building 
are  supposed  to  be  the  dirtiest  in  the  world.  By  their  assistance, 
however,  we  wind  our  upward  way,  past  the  editorial  rooms  in  the 
third  story,  which  are  locked,  to  the  composing-room  in  the  fourth, 
which  are  open,  and  in  which  the  labor  of  transposing  the  news  of 
the  morning  to  the  form  of  the  weekly  paper  is  in  progress.  Only 
two  men  are  present,  the  foreman,  Mr.  Rooker,  and  one  of  his  assist- 
ants. Neither  of  them  wish  to  be  spoken  to,  as  their  minds  are 
occupied  with  a  task  that  requires  care ;  but  we  are  at  liberty  to 
look  around. 

The  composing-room  of  the  Tribune  is,  I  believe,  the  most  con- 
venient, complete,  and  agreeable  one  in  the  country.  It  is  very 
spacious,  nearly  square,  lighted  by  windows  on  two  sides,  and  by 
sky-lights  from  above.  It  presents  an  ample  expanse  of  type-fonts, 
gas-jets  with  large  brown-paper  shades  above  them,  long  tables 
covered  with  columns  of  bright,  copper-faced  type,  either  '  dead ' 
or  waiting  its  turn  for  publication;  and  whatever  else  appertains  to 
the  printing  of  a  newspaper.  Stuffed  into  corners  and  interstices 
are  aprons  and  slippers  in  curious  variety.  Pasted  on  the  walls, 
lamp-shades,  and  doors,  we  observe  a  number  of  printed  notices, 
from  the  perusal  of  which,  aided  by  an  occasional  word  from  the 
obliging  foreman,  we  are  enabled  to  penetrate  the  mystery,  and 
comprehend  the  routine,  of  the  place. 

Here,  for  example,  near  the  middle  of  the  apartment,  are  a  row 
of  hooks,  labelled  respectively,  'Leaded  Brevier;'  'Solid  Brevier;' 
'Minion;'  'Proofs  to  revise  ;'  'Compositors'  Proofs— let  no  profane 
hand  touch  them  except  Smith's ;'  '  Bogus  minion— when  there  is 
no  other  copy  to  be  given  out,  then  take  from  this  hook.'  Upon 
these  hooks,  the  foreman  hangs  the  '  copy '  as  he  receives  it  from 
below,  and  the  men  take  it  in  turn,  requiring  no  further  direction 
as  to  the  kind  of  type  into  which  it  is  to  be  set.  The  '.bogus-min- 
ion '  hook  contains  matter  not  intended  to  be  used ;  it  is  designed 
merely  to  keep  the  men  constantly  employed,  so  as  to  obviate  the 
necessity  of  their  making  petty  charges  for  lost  time,  and  thus  com- 


THE    TRIBUNE    DIRECTORY.  395 

plicatiug  their  accounts.  Below  the  'bogus-hook,'  there  appears 
this  'Particular  Notice:'  'This  copy  must  be  set,  and  the  Takes 
emptied,  with  the  same  care  as  the  rest.'  From  which,  we  may  in- 
fer, that  a  man  is  inclined  to  slight  work  that  he  knows  to  be  use- 
less, even  though  it  be  paid  for  at  the  usual  price  per  thousand. 

Another  printed  paper  lets  us  into  another  secret.  It  is  a  list  of  the 
compositors  emplo}Ted  in  the  office,  divided  into  four  "  Phalanxes"  of 
about  ten  men  each,  a  highly  advantageous  arrangement,  devised  by 
Mr.  Rooker.  At  night,  when  the  copy  begins  to  "  slack  up,"  i.  e. 
when  the  work  of  the  night  approaches  completion,  one  phalanx  is 
dismissed ;  then  another ;  then  another ;  then  the  last ;  and  the 
phalanx  which  leaves  first  at  night  comes  first  in  the  morning,  and 
so  on.  The  men  who  left  work  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  must  be 
again  in  the  office  at  nine,  to  distribute  type  and  set  up  news  for  the 
evening  edition  of  the  paper.  The  second  phalanx  begins  work  at 
two,  the  third  at  five ;  and  at  seven  the  whole  company  must  be  at 
their  posts ;  for,  at  seven,  the  business  of  the  night  begins  in  earnest. 
Printers  will  have  their  joke — as  appears  from  this  list.  It  is  set  in 
double  columns,  and  as  the  number  of  men  happened  to  be  an  un- 
even one,  one  name  was  obliged  to  occupy  a  line  by  itself,  and  it 
appears  thus — "  Baker,  (the  teat-pig.)" 

The  following  notice  deserves  attention  from  the  word  with  which 
it  begins :  "  Gentlemen  desiring  to  wash  and  soak  their  distributing 
matter  will  please  use  hereafter  the  metal  galleys  I  had  cast  for  the 
purpose,  as  it  is  ruinous  to  galleys  having  wooden  sides  to  keep  wet 
type  in  them  locked  up.  Thos.  N.  Rooker."  It  took  the  world  an 
unknown  number  of  thousand  years  to  arrive  at  that  word  '  GEN- 
TLEMEN.' Indeed,  the  world  has  not  arrived  at  it ;  but  there  it  is,  in 
the  composing-room  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  legible  to  all  visitors. 

Passing  by  other  notices,  such  as  "Attend  to  the  gas-meter  on 
Wednesdays  and  Saturdays,  and  to  the  clock  on  Monday  morning," 
we  may  spend  a  minute  or  two  in  looking  over  a  long  printed  cata- 
logue, posted  on  the  door,  entitled,  "  Tribune  Directory.  Corrected 
May  10,  1854.  A  list  of  Editors,  Reporters,  Publishers,  Clerks, 
Compositors,  Proof-Readers,  Pressmen,  &c.,  employed  on  the  New 
York  Tribune." 

From  this  Directory  one  may  learn  that  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune 
is  Horace  Greeley,  the  Managing-Editor  Charles  A.  Dana,  the  Asso- 


396  DAY    AND    NIGHT    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

ciate-Editors,  James  S.  Pike,  William  H.  Fry,  George  Ripley,  Georga 
M.  Snow,  Bayard  Taylor,  F.  J.  Ottarson,  William  Newman,  B.  Brock- 
way,  Solon  Robinson,  and  Donald  C.  Henderson.  We  perceive  also 
that  Mr.  Ottarson  is  the  City  Editor,  and  that  his  assistants  are  in 
number  fourteen.  One  of  these  keeps  an  eye  on  the  Police,  chron- 
icles arrests,  walks  the  hospitals  in  search  of  dreadful  accidents,  and 
keeps  the  public  advised  of  the  state  of  its  health.  Three  report 
lectures  and  speeches.  Another  gathers  items  of  intelligence  in 
Jersey  City,  Newark,  and  parts  adjacent.  Others  do  the  same  in 
Brooklyn  and  Williamsburgh.  One  gentleman  devotes  himself  to 
the  reporting  of  fires,  and  the  movements  of  the  military.  Two- 
examine  and  translate  from  the  New  York  papers  which  are  pub- 
lished in  the  German,  French,  Italian  and  Spanish  languages.  Then, 
there  is  a  Law  Reporter,  a  Police  Court  Reporter,  and  a  Collector 
of  Marine  Intelligence.  Proceeding  down  the  formidable  catalogue, 
we  discover  that  the  '  Marine  Bureau'  (in  common  with  the  Asso- 
ciated Press)  is  under  the  charge  of  Commodore  John  T.  Hall,  who 
is  assisted  by  twelve  agents  and  reporters.  Besides  these,  the  Tri- 
bune has  a  special  '  Ship  News  Editor.'  The  '  Telegraphic  Bureau' 
(also  in  common  with  the  Associated  Press)  employs  one  general 
agent  and  two  subordinates,  (one  at  Liverpool  and  one  at  Halifax,) 
and  fifty  reporters  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  The  mmiber  of 
regular  and  paid  correspondents  is  thirty-eight — eighteen  foreign, 
twenty  home.  The  remaining  force  of  the  Tribune,  as  we  are  in- 
formed by  the  Directory,  is,  Thos.  M'Elrath,  chief  of  the  depart- 
ment of  publication,  assisted  by  eight  clerks ;  Thos.  N.  Rooker,  fore- 
man of  the  composing-room,  with  eight  assistant-foremen  (three  by 
day,  five  by  night),  thirty-eight  regular  compositors,  and  twenty- 
five  substitutes ;  George  Hall,  foreman  of  the  press-room,  with  three 
assistants,  sixteen  feeders,  twenty-five  folders,  three  wrapper- writers, 
and  three  boys.  Besides  these,  there  are  four  proof-readers,  and  a 
number  of  miscellaneous  individuals.  It  thus  appears  that  the 
whole  number  of  persons  employed  upon  the  paper  is  about  two 
hundred  and  twenty,  of  whom  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  devote 
to  it  their  whole  time.  The  Directory  farther  informs  us  that  the 
proprietors  of  the  establishment  are  sixteen  in  number — namely, 
seven  editors,  the  publisher,  four  clerks,  the  foreman  of  the  compos- 


A  GLANCE  AT  THE  PAPER.  397 

ing-room,  the  foreman  of  the  press-room,  one  compositor  and  one 
press-man. 

Except  for  a  few  hours  on  Saturday  afternoon  and  Sunday  morn- 
ing, the  work  of  a  daily  paper  never  entirely  ceases ;  but,  at  this 
hour  of  the  day,  between  six  and  seven  o'clock,  it  does  nearly 
cease.  The  editors  are  still,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  asleep.  The  compos- 
itors have  been  in  bed  for  two  hours  or  more.  The  pressmen  of 
the  night  are  going  home,  and  those  of  the  day  have  not  arrived. 
The  carriers  have  gone  their  rounds.  The  youngest  clerks  have  not 
yet  appeared  in  the  office.  All  but  the  slowest  of  the  newsboys 
have  got  their  supply  of  papers,  and  are  making  the  streets  and  fer- 
ries vocal,  or  vociferous,  with  their  well-known  names.  There  is  a 
general  lull ;  and  while  that  lull  continues,  we  shall  lose  nothing  by 
going  to  breakfast. 

Part  of  which  is  the  New  York  Tribune ;  and  we  may  linger 
over  it  a  little  longer  than  usual  this  morning. 

It  does  not  look  like  it,  but  it  is  a  fact,  as  any  one  moderately  en- 
dowed with  arithmetic  can  easily  ascertain,  that  one  number  of  the 
Tribune,  if  it  were  printed  in  the  form  of  a  book,  with  liberal  type 
and  spacing,  would  make  a  duodecimo  volume  of  four  hundred 
pages — a  volume,  in  fact,  not  much  less  in  magnitude  than  the  one 
which  the  reader  has,  at  this  moment,  the  singular  happiness  of 
perusing.  Each  number  is  the  result  of,  at  least,  two  hundred  days' 
work,  or  the  work  of  two  hundred  men  for  one  day ;  and  it  is  sold 
(to  carriers  and  newsboys)  for  one  cent  and  a  half.  Lucifer  matches, 
at  forty-four  cents  for  a  hundred  and  forty-four  boxes,  are  supposed, 
and  justly,  to  be  a  miracle  of  cheapness.  Pins  are  cheap,  consider- 
ing ;  and  so  are  steel  pens.  But  the  cheapest  thing  yet  realized  un- 
der the  s-un  is  the  New  York  Tribune. 

The  number  for  this  morning  contains  six  hundred  and  forty-one 
separate  articles — from  two-line  advertisements  to  two-column  es- 
says— of  which  five  hundred  and  ten  are  advertisements,  the  re- 
mainder, one  hundred  and  thirty-one,  belonging  to  the  various  de- 
partments of  reading  matter.  The  reading  matter,  however,  occu- 
pies about  one  half  of  the  whole  space — nearly  four  of  the  eight 
broad  pages,  nearly  twenty-four  of  the  forty-eight  columns.  The 
articles  and  paragraphs  which  must  have  been  written  for  this  num- 
ber, yesterday,  or  very  recently,  in  the  office  or  at  the  editors'  resi- 


398  DAY    ANO    NIGHT   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

•>' 

dences,  fill  thirteen  columns,  equal  to  a  hundred  pages  of  foolscap, 
or  eighty  such  pages  as  this.  There  are  five  columns  of  telegraphic 
intelligence,  which  is,  perhaps,  two  columns  above  the  average. 
There  are  twelve  letters  from  '  our  own'  and  voluntary  correspond- 
ents, of  which  five  are  from  foreign  countries.  There  have  been  as 
many  as  thirty  letters  in  one  number  of  the  Tribune  ;  there  are  sel- 
dom less  than  ten. 

What  has  the  Tribune  of  this  morning  to  say  to  us  ?     Let  us  see. 

It  is  often  asked,  who  reads  advertisements  ?  and  the  question  is 
often  inconsiderately  answered,  '  Nobody.'  But,  idle  reader,  if  you 
were  in  search  of  a  boarding-house  this  morning,  these  two  columns 
of  advertisements,  headed  'Board  andEooms,'  would  be  read  by  you 
with  the  liveliest  interest ;  and  so,  in  other  circumstances,  would 
those  which  reveal  a  hundred  and  fifty  '  Wants,'  twenty -two  places 
of  amusement,  twenty-seven  new  publications,  forty-two  schools, 
and  thirteen  establishments  where  the  best  pianos  in  existence  are 
made.  If  you  had  come  into  the  possession  of  a  fortune  yesterday, 
this  column  of  bank-dividend  announcements  would  not  be  passed 
by  with  indifference.  And  if  you  were  the  middle-aged  gentleman 
who  advertises  his  desire  to  open  a  correspondence  with  a  young 
lady  (all  communications  post-paid  and  tho  strictest  secresy  ob- 
served), you  might  peruse  with  anxiety  these  seven  advertisements 
of  hair-dye,  each  of  which  is  either  infallible,  unapproachable,  or 
the  acknowledged  best.  And  the  eye  of  the  '  young  lady'  who  ad- 
dresses you  a  post-paid  communication  in  reply,  informing  you 
where  an  interview  may  be  had,  would  perhaps  rest  for  a  moment 
upon  the  description  of  the  new  Baby -Walker,  with  some  compla- 
cency. If  the  negotiation  were  successful,  it  were  difficult  to  say 
what  column  of  advertisements  would  not,  in  its  turn,  become  of 
the  highest  interest  to  one  or  the  other,  or  both  of  you.  In  truth, 
every  one  reads  the  advertisements  which  concern  them. 

The  wonders  of  the  telegraph  are  not  novel,  and,  therefore,  they 
seem  wonderful  no  longer.  We  glance  up  and  down  the  columns 
of  telegraphic  intelligence,  and  read  without  the  slightest  emotion, 
dispatches  from  Michigan,  Halifax,  Washington,  Baltimore,  Cincin- 
nati, Boston,  Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  and  a  dozen  places 
nearer  the  city,  some  of  which  give  us  news  of  events  that  had  not 
occurred  when  we  went  to  bed  last  night.  The  telegraphic  news  of 


THE  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  PAPER*  S09 

this  morning  has  run  along  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  wire,  and  its  transmission,  at  the  published  rates,  must  have 
cost  between  two  and  three  hundred  dollars.  On  one  occasion,  re- 
cently, the  steamer  arrived  at  Halifax  at  half-past  eleven  in  the  eve- 
ning, and  the  substance  of  her  news  was  contained  in  the  New  York 
papers  the  next  morning,  and  probably  in  the  papers  of  New  Or- 
leans. A  debate  which  concludes  in  Washington  at  midnight,  is  read 
in  fiftieth  street,  New  York,  six  hours  after.  But  these  are  stale 
marvels,  and  they  are  received  by  us  entirely  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  City  department  of  the  paper,  conducted  with  uncommon 
efficiency  by  Mr.  Ottarson,  gives  us  this  morning,  in  sufficient  detail, 
the  proceedings  of  a  '  Demonstration'  at  Tammany  Hall — of  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Bible  Union — a  session  of  the  committee  investigating 
the  affairs  of  Columbia  college — a  meeting  to  devise  measures  for 
the  improvement  of  the  colored  population — a  temperance  '  Demon- 
stration1—a  session  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen — a  meeting  of  the 
commissioners  of  emigration — and  one  of  the  commissioners  of  ex- 
cise. A  trial  for  murder  is  reported ;  the  particulars  of  seven  fires 
are  stated  ;  the  performance  of  the  opera  is  noticed ;  the  progress  of 
the  '  State  Fair  '  is  chronicled,  and  there  are  thirteen  '  city  items.' 
And  what  is  most  surprising  is,  that  seven-tenths  of  the  city  mat- 
ter must  have  been  prepared  in  the  evening,  for  most  of  the  events 
narrated  did  not  occur  till  after  dark. 

The  Law  Intelligence  includes  brief  notices  of  the  transactions  of 
five  courts.  The  Commercial  Intelligence  gives  minute  informa- 
tion respecting  the  demand  for,  the  supply  of,  the  price,  and  the  re- 
cent sales,  of  twenty-one  leading  articles  of  trade.  The  Marine 
Journal  takes  note  of  the  sailing  and  arrival  of  two  hundred  and 
seven  vessels,  with  the  name  of  the  captain,  owners  and  consign- 
ees. This  is,  in  truth,  the  most  astonishing  department  of  a  daily 
paper.  Arranged  under  the  heads  of  "  Cleared,"  "  Arrived,"  "Dis- 
asters," "To  mariners,"  "  Spoken,"  "Whalers,"  "Foreign  Ports," 
"Domestic  Ports,"  "Passengers  sailed,"  "Passengers  arrived,"  it 
presents  daily  a  mass  and  a  variety  of  facts,  which  do  not  astound 
us,  only  because  we  see  the  wonder  daily  repeated.  Nor  is  the 
shipping  intelligence  a  mere  catalogue  of  names,  places  and  figures. 
Witness  these  sentences  cut  almost  at  random  from  the  dense  col- 
umns of  small  type  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  sea'  are  printed : 


400  DAY    AND    NIGHT    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

"Bark  Gen.  Jones,  (of  Boston,)  Hodgden,  London  47  days,  chalk  to  E.  S. 
Belknap  &  Sons.  Aug.  14,  lat.  50°  11',  Ion.  9°  20',  spoke  ship  Merensa,  of  Bos- 
ton, 19  days  from  Eastport  for  London.  Aug.  19,  signalized  a  ship  showing 
Nos.  55,  31,  steering  E.  Aug.  20,  signalized  ship  Isaac  Allerton,  of  New  York. 
Sept.  1,  spoke  Br.  Emerald,  and  supplied  her  with  some  provisions.  Sept.  13, 
lat.  43°  36',  Ion.  49°  54',  passed  a  number  of  empty  barrels  and  broken  pieces  of 
oars.  Sept.  13,  lat  43°,  long  50°  40',  while  lying  to  in  a  gale,  passed  a  vessel's 
spars  and  broken  pieces  of  bulwarks,  painted  black  and  white ;  supposed  the 
spars  to  be  a  ship's  topmasts.  Sept.  19,  lat.  41°  14',  Ion.  56°,  signalized  a  bark 
showing  a  red  signal  with  a  white  spot  in  center." 

As  no  one  not  interested  in  marine  affairs  ever  bestows  a  glance 
upon  this  part  of  his  daily  paper,  these  condensed  tragedies  of  the 
sea  will  be  novel  to  the  general  reader.  To  compile  the  ship-news 
of  this  single  morning,  the  log-books  of  twenty-seven  vessels  must 
have  been  examined,  and  information  obtained  by  letter,  telegraph, 
or  exchange  papers,  from  ninety-three  sea-port  towns,  of  which  thir- 
ty-one are  in  foreign  countries.  Copied  here,  it  would  fill  thirty-five 
pages,  and  every  line  of  it  was  procured  yesterday. 

The  money  article  of  the  Tribune,  to  those  who  have  any  money, 
is  highly  interesting.  It  chronicles,  to-day,  the  sales  of  stocks,  the 
price  of  exchange  and  freight,  the  arrivals  and  departures  of  gold, 
the  condition  of  the  sub-treasury,  the  state  of  the  coal-trade  and 
other  mining  interests,  and  ends  with  gossip  and  argument  about 
the  Schuyler  frauds.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  labor  condensed 
in  the  two  columns  which  the  money  article  usually  occupies. 

The  Tribune,  from  the  beginning  of  its  career,  has  kept  a  vigilant 
eye  upon  passing  literature.  Its  judgments  have  great  weight  with 
the  reading  public.  They  are  always  pronounced  with,  at  least,  an 
air  of  deliberation.  They  are  always  able,  generally  just,  occasion- 
ally cruel,  more  frequently  too  kind.  In  this  department,  taking 
into  account  the  quantity  of  information  given — both  of  home  and 
foreign  literature,  of  books  published  and  of  books  to  be  published 
— and  the  talent  and  knowledge  displayed  in  its  notices  and  reviews, 
the  superiority  of  the  Tribune  to  any  existing  daily  paper  is  simply 
undeniable.  Articles  occasionally  appear  in  the  London  journals, 
written  after  every  other  paper  has  expressed  its  judgment,  written 
at  ample  leisure  and  by  men  pre-eminent  in  the  one  branch  of  let- 
ters to  which  the  reviewed  book  belongs,  which  are  superior  to  the 
reviews  of  the  Tribune.  It  is  the  literary  department  of  the  paper, 


EDITORIAL   ARTICLES.  401 

for  which  superiority  is  here  asserted.  To-day,  it  happens,  that  the 
paper  contains  nothing  literary.  In  a  daily  paper,  news  has  the 
precedence  of  everything,  and  a  review  of  an  epic  greater  than 
Paradise  Lost  might  be  crowded  out  by  the  report  of  an  election 
brawl  in  the  Sixth  Ward.  Thus,  a  poor  author  is  often  kept  in  trem- 
bling suspense  for  days,  or  even  weeks,  waiting  for  the  review 
which  he  erroneously  thinks  will  make  or  mar  him. 

Like  People,  like  Priest,  says  the  old  maxim ;  which  we  may 
amend  by  saying,  Like  Editor,  like  Correspondent.  From  these 
'  Letters  from  the  People,'  we  infer,  that  when  a  man  has  something 
to  say  to  the  public,  of  a  reformatory  or  humanitary  nature,  he  is 
prone  to  indite  an  epistle  '  to  the  Editor  of  the  Few  York  Tribune,' 
who,  on  his  part,  in  tenderness  to  the  public,  is  exceedingly  prone 
to  consign  it  to  the  basket  of  oblivion.  A  good  many  of  these  let- 
ters, however,  escape  into  print — to-day,  four,  on  some  days  a  dozen. 
The  London  letters  of  the  Tribune  are  written  in  London,  the  Paris 
letters  in  Paris,  the  Timbuctoo  letters  in  Timbuctoo.  This  is  strange, 
but  true. 

In  its  editorial  department,  the  Tribune  has  two  advantages  over 
most  of  its  contemporaries.  In  the  first  place,  it  has  an  object  of 
attack,  the  slave  power ;  and  secondly,  by  a  long  course  of  warfare, 
it  has  won  the  conceded  privilege  of  being  sincere.  Any  one  who 
has  had  to  do  with  the  press,  is  aware,  that  articles  in  newspapers 
are  of  two  kinds,  namely,  those  which  are  written  for  a  purpose 
not  avowed,  and  those  which  are  written  spontaneously,  from  the 
impulse  and  convictions  of  the  writer's  own  mind.  And  any  one 
who  has  written  articles  of  both  descriptions  is  aware,  further,  that  a 
man  who  is  writing  with  perfect  sincerity,  writing  with  a  pure  de- 
sire to  move,  interest,  or  convince,  writes  letter,  than  when  the 
necessities  of  his  vocation  compel  him  to  grind  the  axe  for  a  party, 
or  an  individual.  There  is  more  or  less  of  axe-grinding  done  in 
every  newspaper  office  in  the  world ;  and  a  perfectly  independent 
newspaper  never  existed.  Take,  for  example,  the  London  Times, 
which  is  claimed  to  be  the  most  incorruptible  of  journals.  The 
writers  for  the  Times  are  trammeled,  first,  by  the  immense  position 
of  the  paper,  which  gives  to  its  leading  articles  a  possible  influence 
upon  the  affairs  of  the  world.  The  aim  of  the  writer  is  to  express, 
not  himself,  but  ENGLAND  ;  as  the  Times  is,  in  other  countries,  the 


402  DAY   AND    NIGHT   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

recognized  voice  of  the  British  Empire  ;  and  it  is  this  which  ren- 
ders much  of  the  writing  in  the  Times  as  safe,  as  vague,  and  as 
pointless,  as  a  diplomatist's  dispatch.  The  Times  is  further  tram- 
meled by  the  business  necessity  of  keeping  on  terms  with  those 
who  have  it  in  their  power  to  give  and  withhold  important  intelli- 
gence. And,  still  further,  by  the  fact,  that  general  England,  whom 
it  addresses,  is  not  up  to  the  liberality  of  the  age — in  which  the 
leading  minds  alone  fully  participates.  Thus,  it  happens,  that  the 
articles  in  a  paper  like  The  Leader,  which  reaches  only  the  liberal 
class,  are  often  more  pointed,  more  vigorous,  more  interesting,  than 
those  of  the  Times,  though  the  resources  of  the  Leader  are  extremely 
limited,  and  the  Times  can  have  its  pick  of  the  wit,  talent,  and  learn- 
ing of  the  empire.  When  a  man  writes  with  perfect  freedom,  then, 
and  only  then,  he  writes  his  lest.  "Without  claiming  for  the  Tri- 
bune a  perfect  innocence  of  axe-grinding,  it  may  with  truth  be  said, 
that  the  power  of  its  leading  editorial  articles  is  vastly  increased  by 
the  fact,  that  those  who  write  them,  do  so  with  as  near  an  approach 
to  perfect  freedom,  i.  e.  sincerity,  as  the  nature  of  newspaper-writ- 
ing, at  present,  admits  of.  "What  it  gains,  too,  in  spirit  and  interest 
by  having  the  preposterous  inaptitude  of  the  Southern  press  to  rid- 
icule, and  the  horrors  of  Southern  brutality  to  denounce,  is  suffi- 
ciently known. 

But  it  is  time  we  returned  to  the  office.  It  is  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  The  clerks  in  the  office  are  at  their  posts,  receiving  ad- 
vertisements, recording  them,  entering  the  names  of  new  subscrib- 
ers received  by  the  morning's  mail,  of  which  on  some  mornings  of 
the  year  there  are  hundred^.  It  is  a  busy  scene. 

Up  the  dismal  stairs  to  a  dingy  door  in  the  third  story,  upon 
which  we  read,  "  Editorial  Rooms  of  the  New  York  Tribune.  H. 
Greeley."  We  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  enter,  but  we  are,  and 
we  do ;  no  one  hinders  us,  or  even  notices  our  entrance.  First,  a 
narrow  passage,  with  two  small  rooms  on  the  left,  whence,  later  in 
the  day,  the  rapid  hum  of  proof-reading  issues  unceasingly,  one  man" 
reading  the  '  copy'  aloud,  another  having  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  slip 
of  proof.  One  may  insert  his  visage  into  the  square  aperture  in  the 
doors  of  these  minute  apartments,  and  gaze  upon  the  performance 
with  persistent  impertinence  ;  but  the  proof-reading  goes  on,  like  a 
machine.  At  this  hour,  however,  these  rooms  contain  no  one.  A 


THE    EDITORIAL    ROOMS.  403 

few  steps,  and  the  principal  Editorial  Eoom  is  before  us.  It  is  a 
long,  narrow  apartment,  with  desks  for  tho  principal  editors  along" 
the  sides,  with  shelves  well-loaded  with  books  and  manuscripts,  a 
great  heap  of  exchange  papers  in  the  midst,  and  a  file  of  the  Tri- 
bune on  a  broad  desk,  slanting  from  the  wall.  Everything  is  in 
real  order,  but  apparent  confusion,  and  the  whole  is  '  blended  in  a 
common  element  of  dust.'  Nothing  particular  appears  to  be  going 
on.  Two  or  three  gentlemen  are  looking  over  the  papers  ;  but  the 
desks  are  all  vacant,  and  each  has  upon  its  lid  a  pile  of  letters  and 
papers  awaiting  the  arrival  of  him  to  whose  department  they  be- 
long. One  desk  presents  an  array  of  new  publications  that  might 
well  appal  the  most  industrious  critic — twenty-four  new  books, 
seven  magazines,  nine  pamphlets,  and  two  new  papers,  all  expect- 
ing a  '  first-rate  notice.'  At  the  right,  we  observe  another  and 
smaller  room,  with  a  green  carpet,  two  desks,  a  sofa,  and  a  large 
book-case,  filled  with  books  of  reference.  This  is  the  sanctum  sanc- 
torum. The  desk  near  the  window,  that  looks  out  upon  the  green 
Park,  the  white  City  Hall  in  the  midst  thereof,  and  the  lines  of 
moving  life  that  bound  the  same,  is  the  desk  of  the  Editor-in-Chief. 
It  presents  confusion  merely.  The  shelves  are  heaped  with  manu- 
scripts, books,  and  pamphlets  ;  its  lid  is  covered  with  clippings  from 
newspapers,  each  containing  something  supposed  by  the  assiduous 
exchange-reader  to  be  of  special  interest  to  the  Editor ;  and  over 
all,  on  the  highest  shelf,  near  the  ceiling,  stands  a  large  bronze  bust 
of  Henry  Clay,  wearing  a  crown  of  dust.  The  other  desk,  near  the 
door,  belongs  to  the  second  in  command.  It  is  in  perfect  order. 
A  heap  of  foreign  letters,  covered  with  stamps  and  post-marks, 
awaits  his  coming.  The  row  of  huge,  musty  volumes  along  the 
floor  against  one  of  the  walls  of  the  room,  is  a  complete  file  of  the 
Tribune,  with  some  odd  volumes  of  the  New  Yorker  and  Log 
Cabin. 

An  hour  later.  One  by  one  the  editors  arrive.  Solon  Kobinson, 
looking,  with  his  flowing  white  beard  and  healthy  countenance,  like 
a  good-humored  Prophet  Isaiah,  or  a  High  Priest  in  undress,  has 
dropped  into  his  corner,  and  is  compiling,  from  letters  and  newspa- 
pers, a  column  of  paragraphs  touching  the  effect  of  the  drouth 
upon  the  potato  crop.  Bayard  Taylor  is  reading  a  paper  in  the 
American  attitude.  His  countenance  has  quite  lost  tho  Nubian 


404  DAY   AND    NIGHT   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

bronze  with  which  it  darkened  on  the  banks  of  the  White  Kile,  as 
well  as  the  Japanning  which  his  last  excursion  gave  it.  Pale,  deli- 
cate-featured, with  a  curling  beard  and  subdued  moustache,  slight 
in  figure,  and  dressed  with  care,  he  has  as  little  the  aspect  of  an  ad- 
venturous traveler,  and  as  much  the  air  of  a  nice  young  gentleman, 
as  can  be  imagined.  He  may  read  in  peace,  for  he  is  not  now  one 
of  the  '  hack-horses'  of  the  daily  press.  The  tall,  pale,  intense- 
looking  gentleman  who  is  slowly  pacing  the  carpet  of  the  inner 
sanctum  is  Mr.  William  H.  Fry,  the  composer  of  Leonora.  At  this 
moment  he  is  thinking  out  thunder  for  to-morrow's  Tribune.  Wil- 
liam Henry  Fry  is  one  of  the  noblest  fellows  alive — a  hater  ot 
meanness  and  wrong,  a  lover  of  man  and  right,  with  a  power  of 
expression  equal  to  the  intensity  of  his  hate  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
his  love.  There  is  more  merit  in  his  little  finger  than  in  a  whole 
mass-meeting  of  Douglass-senators ;  and  from  any  but  a  grog-ruled 
city  he  would  have  been  sent  to  Congress  long  ago ;  but  perhaps, 
as  Othello  remarks,  '  it  is  better  as  it  is.'  Mr.  Kipley,  who  came  in 
a  few  minutes  ago,  and  sat  down  before  that  marshaled  array  of 
books  and  magazines,  might  be  described  in  the  language  of  Mr. 
Weller  the  elder,  as  '  a  stout  gentleman  of  eight  and  forty.'  He  is 
in  for  a  long  day's  work  apparently,  and  has  taken  off  his  coat. 
Luckily  for  authors,  Mr.  Eipley  is  a  gentleman  of  sound  digestion 
and  indomitable  good  humor,  who  enjoys  life  and  helps  others  en- 
joy it,  and  believes  that  anger  and  hatred  are  seldom  proper,  and 
never  'pay.'  He  examines  each  book,  we  observe,  with  care. 
Without  ever  being  in  a  hurry,  he  gets  through  an  amazing  quan- 
tity of  work;  and  all  he  does  shows  the  touch  and  finish  of  the 
practical  hand.  Mr.  Dana  enters  with  a  quick,  decided  step,  goes 
straight  to  his  desk  in  the  green-carpeted  sanctum  sanctorum,  and 
is  soon  lost  in  the  perusal  of  '  Karl  Marx,'  or  *  An  American  Wo- 
man in  Paris.'  In  figure,  face,  and  flowing  beard,  he  looks  enough 
like  Louis  Kossuth  to  be  his  cousin,  if  not  his  brother.  Mr.  Dana, 
as  befits  his  place,  is  a  gentleman  of  peremptory  habits.  It  is  his 
office  to  decide  ;  and,  as  he  is  called  upon  to  perform  the  act  of  de- 
cision a  hundred  times  a  day,  he  has  acquired  the  power  both  of 
deciding  with  despatch  and  of  announcing  his  decision  with  civil 
brevity,,  If  you  desire  a  plain  answer  to  a  plain  question,  Charles 
A.  Dana  is  the  gentleman  who  can  accommodate  you.  He  is  an 


THE   EDITORIAL   CORPS.  405 

able  and,  in  description,  a  brilliant  writer ;  a  good  speaker  ;  fond 
and  proud  of  his  profession ;  indefatigable  in  the  discharge  of  its 
duties ;  when  out  of  harness,  agreeable  as  a  companion ;  in  harness, 
a  man  not  to  be  interrupted.  Mr.  Ottarson,  the  city  editor,  has  not 
yet  made  his  appearance ;  he  did  not  leave  the  office  last  night  till 
three  hours  after  midnight.  Before  he  left,  however,  he  prepared 
a  list  of  things  to  be  reported  and  described  to-day,  writing  oppo- 
site each  expected  occurrence  the  name  of  the  man  whom  he  wished 
to  attend  to  it.  The  reporters  come  to  the  office  in  the  morning, 
and  from  this  list  ascertain  what  special  duty  is  expected  of  them. 
Mr.  Ottarson  rose  from  the  ranks.  He  has  been  everything  in  a 
newspaper  office,  from  devil  to  editor.  He  is  one  of  the  busiest  of 
men,  and  fills  the  most  difficult  post  in  the  establishment  with  great 
ability.  That  elegant  and  rather  distingue  gentleman  with  the 
small,  black,  Albert  moustache,  who  is  writing  at  the  desk  over 
there  in  the  corner,  is  the  commercial  editor,  the  writer  of  the 
money  article — Mr.  George  M.  Snow.  We  should  have  taken  him 
for  anything  but  a  commercial  gentlemen.  Mr.  Pike,  the  '  J.  S.  P.' 
of  former  "Washington  correspondence,  now  a  writer  on  political 
s-ubjects,  is  not  present ;  nor  are  other  members  of  the  corps. 

Between  twelve  and  one,  Mr.  Greeley  comes  in,  with  his  pockets 
full  of  papers,  and  a  bundle  under  his  arm.  His  first  act  is  to  dis- 
patch his  special  aid-de-sanctum  on  various  errands,  such  as  to  de- 
liver notes,  letters  and  messages,  to  procure  seeds  or  implements 
for  the  farm,  et  cetera.  Then,  perhaps,  he  will  comment  on  the 
morning's  paper,  dwelling  with  pertinacious  emphasis  upon  its  de- 
fects, hard  to  be  convinced  that  an  alleged  fault  was  unavoidable. 
After  two  or  three  amusing  colloquies  of  this  nature,  he  makes 
his  way  to  the  sanctum,  where,  usually,  several  people  are  waiting 
to  see  him.  He  takes  his  seat  at  his  desk  and  begins  to  examine 
the  heap  of  notes,  letters,  newspapers  and  clippings,  with  which  it 
is  covered,  while  one  after  another  of  his  visitors  states  his  busi- 
ness. One  is  an  exile  who  wants  advice,  or  a  loan,  or  an  advertise- 
ment inserted  gratis ;  he  does  not  get  the  loan,  for  Mr.  Greeley 
long  ago  shut  down  the  door  upon  miscellaneous  borrowers  and 
beggars.  Another  visitor  has  an  invention  which  he  wishes  par- 
agraphed into  celebrity.  Another  is  one  of  the  lecture-committee 
of  a  country  Lyceum,  and  wants  our  editor  to  '  come  out  and  give 


406  DAY    AND    NIGHT    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

us  a  lecture  this  winter.'  Another  is  a  country  clergyman  who  lias 
called  to  say  how  much  he  likes  the  semi-weekly  Tribune,  and  to 
gratify  his  curiosity  by  speaking  with  the  editor  face  to  face.  Grad- 
ually the  throng  diminishes  and  the  pile  of  papers  is  reduced.  By 
three  or  four  o'clock,  this  preliminary  botheration  is  disposed  of, 
and  Mr.  Greeley  goes  to  dinner. 

Meanwhile,  all  the  departments  of  the  establishment  have  been 
in  a  state  of  activity.  It  is  Thursday,  the  day  of  the  Weekly  Tri- 
bune, the  inside  of  which  began  to  be  printed  at  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing. Before  the  day  closes,  the  whole  edition,  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  thousand,  forty-eight  cart-loads,  will  have  been  printed, 
folded,  wrapped,  bundled,  bagged,  and  carried  to  the  post-office. 
The  press-room  on  Thursdays  does  its  utmost,  and  presents  a  scene 
of  bustle  and  movement  'easier  imagined  than  described.'  No 
small  amount  of  work,  too,  is  done  in  the  office  of  publication. 
To-day,  as  we  ascertain,  two  hundred  and  thirteen  business  letters 
were  received,  containing,  among  other  things  less  interesting, 
eleven  hundred  and  seventy-two  dollars,  and  four  hundred  and  ten 
new  or  renewed  subscriptions,  each  of  which  has  been  recorded 
and  placed  upon  the  wrapper-writer's  books.  The  largest  sum 
ever  received  by  one  mail  was  eighteen  hundred  dollars.  The 
weekly  expenditures  of  the  concern  average  about  six  thousand 
two  hundred  dollars,  of  which  sum  four  thousand  is  for  paper. 
During  the  six  dull  months  of  the  year,  the  receipts  and  expendi- 
tures are  about  equal ;  in  the  active  months  the  receipts  exceed 
the  expenditures. 

It  is  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Gas  has  resumed.  The  clank 
of  the  press  has  ceased,  and  the  basement  is  dimly  lighted.  The 
clerks,  who  have  been  so  busy  all  day,  have  gone  home,  and  the 
night-clerk,  whom  we  saw  this  morning  in  his  press-room  pulpit,  is 
now  behind  the  counter  of  the  office  receiving  advertisements. 
Night-work  agrees  with  him,  apparently,  for  he  is  robust,  ruddy 
and  smiling.  Aloft  in  the  composing  room,  thirty-eight  men  are 
setting  type,  silently  and  fast.  No  sound  is  heard  but  the  click  of 
the  type,  or  the  voice,  now  and  then,  of  a  foreman,  or  the  noise  of 
of  the  copy-box  rattling  up  the  wooden  pipe  from  the  editor's  room 
below,  or  a  muffled  grunt  from  the  tin  tube  by  which  the  different 
rooms  hold  converse  with  one  another,  or  the  bell  which  calls  for 


THE    COMPOSING   ROOM    IN    THE    EVENING.  407 

the  application  of  an  ear  to  the  mouth  of  that  tube.  The  place  is 
•warm,  close,  light,  and  still.  Whether  it  is  necessarily  detrimental 
to  a  compositor's  health  to  work  from  eight  to  ten  hours  every  night 
in  such  an  atmosphere,  in  such  a  light,  is  still,  it  appears,  a  ques- 
tion. Mr.  Greeley  thinks  it  is  not.  The  compositors  think  it  is, 
and  seldom  feel  able  to  work  more  than  four  nights  a  week,  filling 
their  places  on  the  other  nights  from  the  list  of  substitutes,  or  in 
printer's  language  '  subs.'  Compositors  say,  that  sleep  in  the  day 
time  is  a  very  different  thing  from  sleep  at  night,  particularly  in 
summer,  when  to  create  an  artificial  night  is  to  exclude  the  needful 
air.  They  say  that  they  never  get  perfectly  used  to  the  reversion 
of  nature's  order ;  and  often,  after  a  night  of  drowsiness  so  extreme 
that  they  would  give  the  world  if  they  could  sink  down  upon  the 
floor  and  sleep,  they  go  to  bed  at  length,  and  find  that  ofiended 
Morpheus  has  taken  his  flight,  and  left  their  eye-lids  glued  to  their 
brows ;  and  they  cannot  close  them  before  the  inexorable  hour  ar- 
rives that  summons  them  to  work  again.  In  the  middle  of  the 
room  the  principal  night-foreman  is  already  '  making  up'  the  out- 
side forms  of  to-morrow's  paper,  four  in  number,  each  a  section  of 
a  cylinder,  with  rims  of  polished  iron,  and  type  of  copper  face.  It 
is  slow  work,  and  a  moment's  inattention  might  produce  results 
more  ridiculous  than  cross-readings. 

The  editorial  rooms,  too,  have  become  intense.  Seven  desks  are 
occupied  with  silent  writers,  most  of  them  in  the  Tribune  uniform — 
shirt-sleeves  and  moustache.  The  night-reader  is  looking  over  the 
papers  last  arrived,  with  scissors  ready  for  any  paragraph  of  news 
that  catches  his  eye.  An  editor  occasionally  goes  to  the  copy-box, 
places  in  it  a  page  or  two  of  the  article  he  is  writing,  and  rings  the 
bell ;  the  box  slides  up  to  the  composing-room,  and  the  pages  are  in 
type  and  corrected  before  the  article  is  finished.  Such  articles  are 
those  which  are  prompted  by  the  event  of  the  hour ;  others  are 
more  deliberately  written ;  some  are  weeks  in  preparation ;  and  of 
some  the  keel  is  laid  months  before  they  are  launched  upon  the  pub- 
lic mind.  The  Editor-in-Chief  is  at  his  desk  writing  in  a  singular 
attitude,  the  desk  on  a  level  with  his  nose,  and  the  writer  sitting 
bolt  upright.  He  writes  rapidly,  with  scarcely  a  pause  for  thought, 
and  not  once  in  a  page  makes  an  erasure.  The  foolscap  leaves  fly 
from  under  his  pen  at  the  rate  of  one  in  fifteen  minutes.  He  does 


408  DAY    AND    NIGHT    IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

most  of  the  thinking  before  he  begins  to  write,  and  produces  matter 
about  as  fast  as  a  swift  copyist  can  copy.  Yet  he  leaves  nothing  for 
the  compositor  to  guess  at,  and  if  he  makes  an  alteration  in  the  proof, 
he  is  careful  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  printer  loses  no  time  in 
*  overrunning ;'  that  is,  he  inserts  as  many  words  as  he  erases.  Not 
unfrequently  he  bounds  up  into  the  composing-room,  and  makes  a 
correction  or  adds  a  sentence  with  his  own  hand.  He  is  not  patient 
under  the  infliction  of  an  error ;  and  he  expects  men  to  understand 
his  wishes  by  intuition ;  and  when  they  do  not,  but  interpret  his 
half-expressed  orders  in  a  way  exactly  contrary  to  his  intention,  a 
scene  is  likely  to  ensue. 

And  so  they  write  and  read  in  the  editorial  rooms  of  the  Tribune 
for  some  hours.  Occasionally  a  City  Reporter  comes  in  with  his 
budget  of  intelligence,  or  his  short-hand  notes,  and  sits  down  at  a 
desk  to  arrange  or  write  them  out.  Telegraphic  messages  arrive 
from  the  agent  of  the  Associated  Press,  or  from  '  our  own  corre- 
spondent.' Mr.  Dana  glances  over  them,  sends  them  aloft,  and,  if 
they  are  important,  indites  a  paragraph  calling  attention  to  the  fact. 
That  omnipresent  creature,  the  down-town  apple-woman,  whom  no 
labyrinth  puzzles,  no  extent  of  stairs  fatigues,  no  presence  overawes, 
enters,  and  thrusts  her  basket  in  deliberate  succession  under  each 
editorial  nose.  Some  of  the  corps,  deep  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation, 
pause  in  their  writing,  gaze  at  the  woman  in  utter  abstraction,  slow- 
ly come  to  a  sense  of  her  errand,  shake  their  heads,  and  resume 
their  work.  Others  hurriedly  buy  an  apple,  and  taking  one  prodig- 
ious bite,  lay  it  aside  and  forget  it.  A  band  of  music  is  heard  in 
the  street ;  it  is  a  target-excursion  returning  late  from  Hoboken ;  it 
passes  the  office  and  gives  it  three  cheers ;  the  city  men  go  to  the  win- 
dows ;  the  rest  write  on  unconscious  of  the  honor  that  has  been 
done  them ;  the  Tribune  returns  the  salute  by  a  paragraph. 

Midnight.  The  strain  is  off.  Mr.  Greeley  finished  his  work  about 
eleven,  chatted  a  while  with  Mr.  Dana,  and  went  home.  Mr.  Dana 
has  received  from  the  foreman  the  list  of  the  articles  in  type,  the 
articles  now  in  hand,  and  the  articles  expected  ;  he  has  designated 
those  which  must  go  in ;  those  which  it  is  highly  desirable  should 
go  in,  and  those  which  will 4  keep.'  He  has  also  marked  the  order 
in  which  the  articles  are  to  appear ;  and,  having  performed  this  last 
duty,  he  returns  the  list  to  the  compositor,  puts  on  his  coat  and  de- 


MIDNIGHT.  400 

parts.  Mr.  Fry  is  on  the  last  page  of  his  critique  of  this  evening's 
Grisi,  which  he  executes  with  steam-engine  rapidity,  and  sends  up 
without  reading.  He  lingers  awhile,  and  then  strolls  off  up  town. 
Mr.  Ottarson  is  still  busy,  as  reporters  continually  arrive  with  items 
of  news,  which  he  hastily  examines,  and  consigns  either  to  the  bas- 
ket under  his  desk,  or  to  the  copy-box.  The  first  phalanx  of  com- 
positors is  dismissed,  and  they  come  thundering  down  the  dark  stairs, 
putting  on  their  coats  as  they  descend.  The  foreman  is  absorbed  in 
making  up  the  inside  forms,  as  he  has  just  sent  those  of  the  outside 
below,  and  the  distant  clanking  of  the  press  announces  that  they 
have  begun  to  be  printed.  We  descend,  and  find  the  sheets  coining 
off  the  press  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  a  minute.  The  en- 
gine-rnan  is  commodiously  seated  on  an  inverted  basket,  under  a 
gas-jet,  reading  the  outside  of  the  morning's  paper,  and  the  chief  of 
the  press-room  is  scanning  a  sheet  to  see  if  the  impression  is  perfect. 
The  gigantic  press  has  six  mouths,  and  six  men  are  feeding  him  with 
white  paper,  slipping  in  the  sheets  with  the  easy  knack  acquired  by 
long  practice.  It  looks  a  simple  matter,  this  '  feeding ;'  but  if  a  new 
hand  were  to  attempt  it,  the  iron  maw  of  the  monster  would  be 
instantly  choked,  and  his  whole  system  disarranged.  For  he  is  as 
delicate  as  he  is  strong ;  the  little  finger  of  a  child  can  start  and 
stop  him,  moderate  his  pace,  or  quicken  it  to  the  snapping  of  his 
sinews. 

Three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Mr.  Ottarson  is  in  trouble.  The 
outside  of  the  paper  is  printed,  the  inside  forms  are  ready  to  be  low- 
ered away  to  the  basement,  and  the  press-men  are  impatiently  wait- 
ing the  signal  to  receive  it.  The  pulpit  of  the  night  clerk  is  ready 
for  his  reception,  the  spacious  folding- table  is  cleared,  and  two  car- 
riers have  already  arrived.  All  the  compositors  except  the  last 
phalanx  have  gone  home ;  and  they  have  corrected  the  last  proof, 
and  desire  nothing  so  much  as  to  be  allowed  to  depart.  But  an 
English  steamer  is  overdue,  and  a  telegraphic  dispatch  from  the 
agent  of  the  Associated  Press  at  Sandy  Hook,  who  has  been  all  night 
in  his  yacht  cruising  for  the  news,  is  anxiously  expected.  It  does 
not  come.  The  steamer  (as  we  afterwards  ascertain)  has  arrived, 
but  the  captain  churlishly  refused  to  throw  on  board  the  yacht  the 
customary  newspaper.  Mr.  Ottarson  fancies  he  hears  a  gun.  A 
moment  after  he  is  positive  he  hears  another.  He  has  five  nieu  of 

18 


410  DAY    AND   NIGHT   IN    THE    TRIBUNE    OFFICE. 

his  corps  within  call,  and  he  sends  them  flying !  One  goes  to  the 
Astor  House  to  see  if  they  have  heard  of  the  steamer's  arrival ;  an- 
other to  the  offices  of  the  Times  and  Herald,  on  the  same  errand ; 
others  to  Jersey  City,  to  be  ready  in  case  the  steamer  reaches  her 
wharf  in  time.  It  is  ascertained,  about  half-past  three,  that  the 
steamer  is  coming  up  the  bay,  and  that  her  news  cannot  possibly  be 
procured  before  five ;  and  so,  Mr.  Ottarson,  having  first  ascertained 
that  the  other  morning  papers  have  given  up  the  hope  of  the  news 
for  their  first  editions,  goes  to  press  in  despair,  and  home  in  ill  humor. 
In  a  few  minutes,  the  forms  are  lowered  to  the  basement,  wheeled 
to  the  side  of  the  press,  and  hoisted  to  their  places  on  the  press  by 
a  crank.  The  feeders  take  their  stands,  the  foreman  causes  the 
press  to  make  one  revolution,  examines  a  sheet,  pronounces  it  all 
right,  sets  the  press  in  motion  at  a  rattling  rate,  and  nothing  remains 
to  be  done  except  to  print  off  thirty  thousand  copies  and  distribute 
them. 

The  last  scene  of  all  is  a  busy  one  indeed.  The  press-room  is  all 
alive  with  carriers,  news-men  and  folding-boys,  each  of  whom  is  in 
a  fever  of  hurry.  Four  or  five  boys  are  carrying  the  papers  in  back- 
loads  from  the  press  to  the  clerk,  and  to  the  mailing  tables.  The 
carriers  receive  their  papers  in  the  order  of  ^  the  comparative  dis- 
tance of  their  districts  from  the  office.  No  money  passes  between 
them  and  the  clerk.  They  come  to  the  office  every  afternoon,  ex- 
amine the  book  of  subscribers,  note  the  changes  ordered  in  their 
respective  routes,  pay  for  the  number  of  papers  they  will  require  on 
the  following  morning,  and  receive  a  ticket  entitling  them  to  receive 
the  designated  number.  The  number  of  papers  distributed  by  one 
carrier  varies  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred.  Some 
of  the  carriers,  however,  are  assisted  by  boys  As  a  carrier  gains 
a  weekly  profit  of  three  cents  on  each  subscriber,  one  who  delivers 
five  hundred  papers  has  an  income  of  fifteen  dollars  a  week ;  and  it 
is  well  earned.  Most  of  the  small  news-men  in  town,  country,  and 
railroad-car,  are  supplied  with  their  papers  by  a  wholesale  firm,  who 
deliver  them  at  a  slight  increase  of  price  over  the  first  cost.  The 
firm  alluded  to  purchases  from  four  to  five  thousand  copies  of  the 
Tribune  every  morning. 

By  five  o'clock,  usually,  the  morning  edition  has  been  printed 
off,  the  carriers  supplied,  the  early  mail  dispatched,  and  the  bundles 


THE    CARRIERS.  41  T 

for  adjacent  towns  made  up.    Again  there  is' a  lull  in  the  activity 
of  the  Tribune  building,  and,  sleepily,  we  bend  our  steps  homeward. 

There  is  something  extremely  pleasing  in  the  spectacle  afforded 
by  a  large  number  of  strong  men  co-operating  in  cheerful  activity, 
by  which  they  at  once  secure  their  own  career,  and  render  an  im- 
portant service  to  the  public.  Such  a  spectacle  the  Tribune  build- 
ing presents.  At  present  men  show  to  best  advantage  when  they 
are  at  work ;  we  have  not  yet  learned  to  sport  with  grace  and  un- 
mixed benefit ;  and  still  further  are  we  from  that  stage  of  develop- 
ment where  work  and  play  become  one.  But  the  Tribune  building 
is  a  very  cheerful  place.  No  one  is  oppressed  or  degraded  ;  and, 
by  the  minute  subdivision  of  labor  in  all  departments,  there  is  sel- 
dom any  occasion  for  hurry  or  excessive  exertion.  The  distinctions 
which  there  exist  between  one  man  and  another,  are  not  artificial, 
but  natural  and  necessary ;  foreman  and  editor,  office-boy  and  head 
clerk,  if  they  converse  together  at  all,  converse  as  friends  and 
equals ;  and  the  posts  of  honor  are  posts  of  honor,  only  because  they 
are  posts  of  difficulty.  In  a  word,  the  republicanism  of  the  Con- 
tinent has  come  to  a  focus  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Spruce- 
streets.  There  it  has  its  nearest  approach  to  practical  realization  ; 
thence  proceeds  its  strongest  expression. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

POSITION  AND   INFLUENCE   OF  HORACE   GEEELEY. 

At  the  head  of  his  Profession — Extent  of  his  Influence — Nature  of  his  Influence — A 
Conservative-Radical  —  His  Practical  Suggestions— To  Aspiring  Young  Men  — 
Have  a  Home  of  your  own — To  Young  Mechanics — Coming  to  the  City — A  Labor- 
Exchange — Pay  as  you  go — To  the  Lovers  of  Knowledge — To  Young  Orators — The 
Colored  People— To  young  Lawyers  and  Doctors— To  an  inquiring  Slaveholder— 
To  Country  Editors — In  Peace,  prepare  for  War — To  Country  Merchants — Tene- 
ment Houses. 

A  SATIRIST  observes,  that  the  difference,  in  modern  days,  between 
a  distinguished  and  a  common  man  is,  that  the  name  of  a  distin- 


412  POSITION   AND   INFLUENCE    OF    HORACE    GREELEY. 

guished  man  is  frequently  printed  in  newspapers,  the  name  of  a 
common  man  never  or  seldom.  If  the  remark  is  correct,  then  Hor- 
ace Greeley  is  by  far  the  most  distinguished  person,  out  of  office, 
in  the  United  States.  The  click  of  the  types  that  set  up  his  name 
is  seldom  hushed.  Probably,  more  than  half  of  our  three  thousand 
newspapers  published  this  week,  contain  something  about  him  or 
by  him,  something  at  least  which  but  for  him  they  would  not  con- 
tain. And  who  has  seen,  for  the  last  few  years,  a  political  carica- 
ture in  which  the  man  with  the  white  coat,  and  long  locks,  and  hat 
on  the  back  of  his  head,  does  not  figure  conspicuously  ?  In  Eng- 
land, it  is  a  maxim,  that  the  politician  who  is  not  caricatured  is  a 
failure.  What  an  immense  success,  then,  would  the  English  accord 
to  Horace  Greeley! 

It  is  rare  indeed  for  a  man  to  attain  precisely  that  position  in  life, 
which,  in  his  youthful  days,  he  coveted  and  aimed  at.  This  happi- 
ness, this  success,  our  hero  enjoys.  He  tells  us,  that  in  his  boyhood, 
he  had  '  no  other  ambition  than  that  of  attaining  usefulness  and 
position  as  an  editor,  and  to  this  end  all  the  studies  and  efforts  of 
his  life  have  tended.'  As  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  Horace 
Greeley,  at  this  moment,  stands  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  profess- 
ion in  this  country.  The  Tribune,  with  all  its  faults  and  deficien- 
cies, is  incomparably  the  ablest  paper  that  we  have  yet  realized. 
He  who  denies  this  convicts  himself,  not  of  error,  but  of  ignorance 
or  defective  understanding.  Yet  many  will  deny  it ;  but  few  who 
are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  country,  will  dispute  the  following 
assertion : 

During  the  last  ten  years  or  more,  Horace  Greeley  has  influenced 
a  greater  amount  of  thought  and  a  greater  number  of  characters, 
than  any  other  individual  who  has  lived  in  this  land. 

At  a  rough  calculation,  he  has  written  and  published,  during  his 
editorial  career,  matter  enough  to  fill  one  hundred  and  fifty  volumes 
like  this ;  and  his  writings,  whatever  other  merit  they  possess  or 
lack,  have  the  peculiarity  of  being  readable,  and  they  are  read.  He 
has,  moreover,  addressed  a  larger  number  of  persons  than  any  other 
editor  or  man  ;  and  the  majority  of  his  readers  live  in  these  north- 
ern States,  where  the  Intelligence,  the  Virtue,  and  (therefore)  the 
Wealth,  of  this  confederacy  chiefly  reside.  He  edits  a  paper  to 
which  many  able  men  contribute,  who  write  under  the  unavoidable 


EXTENT    OF    HIS    INFLUENCE.  413 

condition  of  not  expressing  an  opinion  to  which  the  editor-in-chief 
is  opposed ;  and  who  owe  their  connection  with  the  paper  to  the 
fact  of  their  general  concordance  with  him  on  subjects  of  the  first 
importance.  To  these  means  of  influence,  add  his  continual  lectur- 
ing and  public  speaking,  add  the  Whig  Almanac,  add  the  scores  of 
Tribunes  that  have  been  started  all  over  the  northern  States,  Tri- 
bunes similar  in  spirit  and  intent  to  their  great  original,  and  then 
doubt,  if  you  can.  that  Horace  Greeley  has  long  been  the  most  in- 
fluential man  among  all  the  millions  of  his  countrymen! 

What  is  the  nature  of  his  influence  ?    What  has  he  tried  to  effect? 

Any  man  who  is  not  entirely  a  fool  is  better  acquainted  with  him- 
self than  any  one  else  is  acquainted  with  him.  In  the  preface  to 
the  Hints  towards  Eeforms,  Horace  Greeley  states  what,  he  con- 
ceives, has  been  his  aim  as  a  politician.  He  has  '  aspired  to  be  a 
mediator,  an  interpreter,  a  reconciler,  between  Conservatism  and 
Eadicalisni — to  bring  the  two  into  such  connection  and  relation, 
that  the  good  in  each  may  obey  the  law  of  chemical  affinity,  and 
abandon  whatever  portion  of  either  is  false,  mistaken  or  out-worn, 
to  sink  down  and  perish.'  And  again,  he  has  *  endeavored  so  to 
elucidate  what  is  just  and  practical  in  the  demands  of  our  time  for 
a  social  Renovation,  that  the  humane  and  philanthropic  can  no 
longer  misrepresent  and  malign  them  as  destructive  or  infidel  in 
their  tendencies ;  but  must  joyfully  recognize  in  them  the  fruits  of 
past,  and  the  seeds  of  future,  progress  in  the  history  of  our  race.' 
Thus,  with  all  his  radical  and  progressive  tendencies,  he  was  for 
many  arduous  years  a  leading  champion  of  our  conservative  party. 
That  a  position  like  this,  between  two  opposing  forces,  is  more  apt 
to  excite  the  hostility  of  both  than  the  confidence  of  either,  has 
been  frequently  shown  in  the  career  of  Horace  Greeley.  Party, 
like  the  heart  of  a  woman,  demands  all,  or  refuses  any. 

On  this  point,  however, — the  nature  of  Horace  Greeley's  influence 
in  this  country, — we  may  properly  and  profitably  be  more  particular. 
His  opinions  on  such  subjects  as  religion  and  politics,  which  include 
all  others,  the  reader  is  acquainted  with.  The  forte  of  the  man  lies 
in  making  practical  suggestions  for  the  better  conduct  of  the  ma- 
terial life  of  the  American  people.  He  knows  the  American  peo- 
ple— he  is,  emphatically,  one  of  them — and  he  knows  what  they 
need  and  what  they  wish.  Passing  by,  without  further  statement, 


414  POSITION   AND    INFLUENCE    OF    HORACE    GREELEY. 

what  may  be  called,  in  a  technical  sense,  Horace  Greeley's  Opinions, 
I  will  append  a  few  of  the  suggestions  he  has  made,  from  time  to 
time,  designed  to  reform  or  improve: 

TO   ASPIRING  TOTING  MEN. 

"  'I  want  to  go  into  business,3  is  the  aspiration  of  our  young  men:  {  can't 
you  find  me  a  place  in  the  city  T  their  constant  inquiry.  'Friend,'  we  an- 
swer to  many,  '  the  best  business  you  can  go  into  you  will  find  on  your  father's 
farm  or  in  his  workshop.  If  you  have  no  family  or  friends  to  aid  you,  and  no 
prospect  opened  to  you  there,  turn  your  face  to  the  Great  West,  and  there 
build  up  a  home  and  fortune.  But  dream  not  of  getting  suddenly  rich  by 
speculation,  rapidly  by  trade,  or  any  how  by  a  profession  :  all  these  avenues 
are  choked  by  eager,  struggling  aspirants,  and  ten  must  be  trodden  down  in 
the  press  where  one  can  vault  upon  his  neighbor's  shoulders  to  honor  or 
wealth.  Above  all,  be  neither  afraid  nor  ashamed  of  honest  industry ;  and  if 
you  catch  yourself  fancying  anything  more  respectable  than  this,  be  ashamed 
of  it  to  the  last  day  of  your  life.  Or,  if  you  find  yourself  shaking  more  cor- 
dially the  hand  of  your  cousin  the  Congressman  than  of  your  uncle  the  black- 
smith, as  such,  write  yourself  down  an  enemy  to  the  principles  of  our  institu- 
tions, and  a  traitor  to  the  dignity  of  Humanity.'  " 

THE  WOELD   OWES  ME   A  LIVING. 

"  How  owes  ?  Have  you  earned  it  by  good  service  1  If  you  have,  whether 
on  the  anvil  or  in  the  pulpit,  as  a  toiler  or  a  teacher,  you  have  acquired  a  just 
right  to  a  livelihood.  But  if  you  have  eaten  as  much  as  you  have  earned,  or — 
worse  still — have  done  little  or  no  good,  the  world  owes  you  nothing.  You 
may  be  worth  millions,  and  able  to  enjoy  every  imaginary  luxury  without 
care  or  effort ;  but  if  you  have  done  nothing  to  increase  the  sum  of  human 
comforts,  instead  of  the  world  owing  you  anything,  as  fools  have  babbled,  you 
are  morally  bankrupt  and  a  beggar." 

TO   FARMEES. 

"  'I  can't  afford  to  cultivate  my  land  so  nicely  ;  I  am  not  able.'  Then,  sir, 
sell  all  you  are  unable  to  use  properly,  and  obtain  means  to  cultivate 
thoroughly  what  you  retain.  If  you  have  a  hundred  acres  sell  fifty,  keep 
twenty  acres  of  arable,  and  thirty  of  rocky  woodland,  and  bring  this  to  per- 
fection." 

A   HOME   OF   YOUR  OWN. 

"  We  wish  it  were  possible  to  imbue  every  man,  but  especially  every  young 
man,  with  the  desire  of  having  a  HOME  of  his  own — a  home  to  be  adhered  to 
through  life.  Next  to  the  home  itself,  an  earnest,  overruling  desire  for  one, 


KIS    PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS.  415 

•would  bo  a  great  blessing.  A  man  who  owns  the  roof  that  shelters  him,  and 
the  soil  from  which  he  draws  his  subsistence — and  few  acres  are  requisite  for 
that — need  not  envy  any  Nabob's  great  fortune." 

TO   YOUNG  MECHANICS. 

"  { It  is  the  first  step  that  costs.'  The  main  obstacle  to  saving  is  the  lack 
of  the  habit.  He  who  at  twenty-two  has  saved  a  hundred  dollars,  earned  by 
honest,  useful  effort  during  the  first  year  of  his  self-control,  will  be  very  un- 
likely ever  to  be  destitute  thereafter.  On  the  other  hand,  he  who  has  saved 
nothing  at  the  end  of  his  first  year  of  independence,  will  be  pretty  certain  to 
carry  a  poor  man's  head  on  his  shoulders  while  he  lives. 

""  Our  young  mechanics  are  not  thrifty,  because  of  the  evil  habits  they  have 
formed  during  their  minority.  *  *  *  By-and-bye  he  marries,  and  re- 
trenches some  of  his  worst  expenses,  but  too  late — the  increased  demands  of  a 
growing  family  absorb  every  cent  he  can  earn  ;  and  at  fifty  or  sixty  years  df 
age  you  will  see  him  emerging,  seedy  and  sickly,  from  the  groggery,  whither 
he  has  repaired  for  his  bitters  or  his  eleven  o'clock,  enfeebled  in  body,  and 
discouraged  in  spirit,  out  of  humor  with  everything  and  everybody,  and  curs- 
ing the  banks,  or  the  landlords,  the  capitalists,  or  the  speculators,  as  plun- 
derers and  enslavers  of  the  poor." 

COMING  TO   THE   CITY. 

"  The  young  man  fit  to  come  to  a  city  does  not  begin  by  importuning  some 
relative  or  friend  to  find  or  make  a  place  for  him.  Having  first  qualified 
himself,  so  far  as  he  may,  for  usefulness  here,  he  comes  understanding  that 
he  must  begin  at  the  foot  of  the  class,  and  work  his  way  up.  Having  found 
a  place  to  stop,  he  makes  himself  acquainted  with  those  places  where  work  in 
his  line  may  be  found,  sees  the  advertisements  of  (  Wants'  in  the  leading  jour- 
nals at  an  early  hour  each  morning,  notes  those  which  hold  out  some  pros- 
pect for  him,  and  accepts  the  first  place  offered  him  which  he  can  take  honor- 
ably and  fill  acceptably.  He  who  commences-  in  this  way  is  quite  likely  to 
get  on." 

A  LABOR-EXCHANGE. 

"  What  I  would  suggest  would  be  the  Union  and  Organization  of  all  work- 
ers for  their  mutual  improvement  and  benefit,  leading  to  the  erection  of  a 
spacious  edifice  at  some  central  point  in  our  city  to  form  a  Laborers'  Ex- 
change, just  as  Commerce  now  has  its  Exchange,  very  properly.  Let  the  new 
Exchange  be  erected  and  owned  as  a  joint-stock  property,  paying  a  fair  divi- 
dend to  those  whose  money  erected  it ;  let  it  contain  the  best  spacious  hall 
for  general  meetings  to  be  found  in  our  city,  with  smaller  lecture-rooms  for 
the  meetings  of  particular  sections  or  callings — all  to  be  leased  or  rented  at 
fair  prices  to  all  who  may  choose  to  hire  them,  when  not  needed  for  the 


416  POSITION   AND   INFLUENCE    OF   HORACE    GREELEY. 

primary  purpose  of  discussing  and  advancing  the  interests  of  labor.  Let  us 
!iave  here  books  opened,  wherein  any  one  wanting  work  may  inscribe  his 
name,  residence,  capacities  and  terms,  while  any  one  wishing  to  hire  may  do 
likewise,  as  well  as  meet  personally  those  seeking  employment." 

PAT   AS   YOU   GO. 

"  '  Mr.  President,'  said  John  Eandolph  once,  apropos  to  nothing  in  one  of  his 
rambling  Congressional  harangues,  '  I  have  found  the  philosopher's  stone ! 
It  consists  of  four  short  English  words—'  Pay  as  you  go.'  " 

TO    THE   LOVERS    OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

"  Avoid  the  pernicious  error  that  you  must  have  a  profession — must  be  a 
clergyman,  lawyer,  doctor,  or  something  of  the  sort — in  order  to  be  influential, 
useful,  respected ;  or,  to  state  the  case  in  its  best  aspect,  that  you  may  lead  an 
intellectual  life.  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  necessary — very  far  from  it.  If  your 
tendencies  are  intellectual — if  you  love  knowledge,  wisdom,  virtue  for  them- 
selves, you  will  grow  in  them,  whether  you  earn  your  bread  by  a  profession,  a 
trade,  or  by  tilling  the  ground.  Nay,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  farmer 
or  mechanic,  who  devotes  his  leisure  hours  to  intellectual  pursuits  from  a  pure 
love  of  them,  has  not  some  advantages  therein  over  the  professional  man. 
He  comes  to  his  book  at  evening  with  his  head  clear  and  his  mental  appetite 
sharpened  by  the  manual  labors,  taxing  lightly  the  spirit  or  brain  ;  while  the 
lawyer,  who  has  been  running  over  dry  books  for  precedents,  the  doctor,  who 
has  been  racking  his  wits  for  a  remedy  adapted  to  some  new  modification  of 
disease,  or  the  divine,  who,  immured  in  his  closet,  has  been  busy  preparing 
his  next  sermon,  may  well  approach  the  evening  volume  with  faculties  jaded 
and  palled." 

TO   YOUNG    ORATORS. 

"  A  young  "Whig  inquires  how  are  young  men  who  can  speak  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  many  who  only  think  they  can,  and  brought  into  the  field. 
We  answer — Step  out  into  any  neighborhood  where  you  are  acquainted,  and 
if  there  is  no  Clay  Club  there  now,  aid  in  getting  one  up.  You  will  there  nat- 
urally be  called  on  to  speak  at  its  opening,  and  be  sure  you  have  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  facts  material  to  the  great  issue,  and  the  documents  un- 
der your  elbow  to  sustain  them.  After  that,  if  you  speak  to  the  purpose,  you 
will  be  called  on  quite  as  often  as  you  will  choose  to  speak.  But  choose  small 
gatherings,  until  you  know  that  you  are  master  of  the  questions  in  issue." 

A   WASHINGTON   MONUMENT. 

"  We  have  not  much  faith  in  monument-building  ;  yet  it  strikes  us  that  a 
monument  to  Washington,  so  planned  as  to  minister  at  every  point  to  purposes 
of  great  public  utility,  would  be  a  good  thing.  Let  it  contain  apartments  con- 


HIS   PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS.  417 

secrated  to  art  and  knowledge — let  its  summit  be  an  observatory,  telegraph 
station,  &c.,  and  the  common  and  forcible  objection  to  monuments  •will  be  ob- 
viated." 

THE    COLOEED   PEOPLE. 

"  What  the  colored  people  need  is  not  so  much  Power  as  Self- Elevation — not 
so  much  b'etter  manners  and  greater  consideration  from  the  whites  as  greater 
respect  for  and  confidence  in  themselves,  based  on  substantial  grounds.  So 
long  as  they  remain  pretty  generally  boot-blacks,  tavern- waiters,  clothes-scour- 
ers, <fcc.,  from  seeming  choice,  the  Right  to  Vote  will  be  of  precious  little  ac- 
count to  them.  But  let  them  as  a  class  step  aside  from  those  who  insult  and 
degrade  them,  like  a  small  band  of  them  in  Ohio,  buy  a  tract  of  land  which 
shall  be  all  their  own,  and  go  to  work  upon  it,  clearing,  building,  farming, 
manufacturing,  &c.,  and  they  will  no  longer  care  much  that  those  who  are  of 
baser  spirit,  though  with  whiter  skins,  refuse  to  consider  them  men  and  admit 
them  to  the  common  privileges  of  manhood.  We  see  no  plan  of  elevating 
them  half  so  certain  or  so  feasible  as  this." 


TO   YOUNG   LAWYEES   AND   DOCTOES. 

"  Qualify  yourselves  at  College  to  enlighten  the  farmers  and  mechanics  among 
whom  you  settle  in  the  scientific  principles  and  facts  uhicJi  underlie  their  sev- 
eral vocations.  The  great  truths  of  Geology,  Chemistry,  &c.,  &c.,  ought  to  be 
well  known  to  you  when  your  education  is  completed,  and  these,  if  you  have 
the  ability  to  impart  and  elucidate  them,  will  make  you  honorably  known  to 
the  inhabitants  of  any  county  wherein  you  may  pitch  your  tent,  and  will  thus 
insure  you  a  subsistence  from  the  start,  and  ultimately  professional  employ- 
ment and  competence.  Qualify  yourself  to  lecture  accurately  and  fluently  on 
the  more  practical  and  important  principles  of  Natural  Science,  and  you  will 
soon  find  opportunities,  auditors,  customers,  friends.  Show  the  farmer  how  to 
fertilize  his  fields  more  cheaply  and  effectively  than  he  has  hitherto  done — 
teach  the  builder  the  principles  and  more  expedient  methods  of  heating  and 
ventilation — tell  the  mason  how  to  correct,  by  understanding  and  obeying  Na- 
ture's laws,  the  defect  which  makes  a  chimney  smoke  at  the  wrong  end — and 
you  need  never  stand  idle,  nor  long  await  remunerating  employment." 

TO   AN   INQUIKING  SLAVEIIOLDEB. 

"  It  seems  to  us  that  a  conscientious  man,  convinced  of  the  wrong  of  slave- 
holding,  should  begin  the  work  of  redressing  that  wrong  at  once.  And  if  we 
were  in  our  correspondent's  place,  and  the  laws  of  that  State  forbade  emanci- 
pation on  her  soil  and  the  teaching  of  slaves,  we  should  remove  with  them  at 
once  to  some  convenient  locality  where  no  such  tyrannical  statutes  existed, 
Then  (or  on  our  old  plantation,  if  the  laws  did  not  forbid)  we  should  say  to 


418  POSITION   AND    INFLUENCE    OF   HORACE    GREELEY. 

those  slaves  :  '  You  are  free,  and  may  leave  if  you  choose  ;  but  I  advise  you 
to  stay  with  me  till  I  shall  have  taught  you  how  to  use  and  enjoy  your  free- 
dom. I  will  either  myself  teach  you  two  hours  daily,  or  I  will  employ  some 
competent  person  to  do  so ;  and  I  will  share  fairly  with  you  the  proceeds  of 
my  land  and  your  labor.  At  the  year's  end,  I  will  settle  fairly  with  you,  and 
any  one  who  chooses  may  then  take  his  portion  and  leave,  while  I  with  those 
who  remain  will  endeavor  to  raise  a  better  crop  next  year.  I  think  you  can 
all  earn  more,  live  better,  and  save  more,  by  staying  with  me  than  by  going 
off;  if  you  don't  think  so,  go  ;  or,  if  you  stay  now,  go  whenever  you  shall 
come  to  think  so.  But  while  you  stay  here,  I  must  be  obeyed ;  and  any  one 
who  don't  obey  me  and  behave  himself  will  have  to  leave.' 

"Now  we  feel  confident  that  a  slaveholder  who  should  adopt  this  course  and 
firmly  pursue  it,  would  soon  have  the  finest  plantation  and  the  best  crops  in 
his  county — keeping  all  his  good  blacks  and  getting  rid  of  the  bad  ones,  and 
with  all  his  laborers  working  under  the  stimulus  of  personal  interest,  and  im- 
pelled by  pride  to  make  as  good  a  show  as  possible  in  the  settlement  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  We  believe  the  great  majority  of  any  planter's  slaves 
might  thus  be  quietly  educated  into  fitness  for  freedom  and  self-direction,  as 
well  as  into  a  competent  knowledge  of  letters  and  the  elemental  arts,  while 
the  planter  would  find  himself,  at  ten  years'  end,  not  only  wiser  but  actually 
richer  than  if  he  had  continued  to  hold  his  laborers  in  hopeless  slavery.  Rely 
on  it,  friend  !  it  can  never  be  dangerous  nor  impolitic  to  do  right ;  and  what 
Washington,  John  Randolph,  and  many  other  eminent  Southrons  saw  fit  to 
do  on  their  death-beds  you  may  safely  and  wisely  do  while  you  live." 


TO    COUNTEY   EDITOES. 

"We  fear  there  are  some  Country  editors  who  do  not  clearly  perceive  and 
improve  the  advantages  of  their  position.  If  they  would  only  make  their  pa- 
pers the  vigilant  gleaners  of  all  local  intelligence,  the  fosterers  of  local  inter- 
ests, local  institutes  for  promoting  knowledge,  &c.,  &c., — above  all,  if  they 
would  stop  publishing  so  many  frivolous  stories  and  other  mere  transcripts 
from  the  City  Magazines  and  Journals,  filling  their  columns  instead  with  ac- 
counts of  the  latest  and  most  valuable  discoveries  and  improvements  in  Ag- 
riculture, the  Arts  and  all  branches  of  practical  Science,  they  would  have  an 
abundance  of  subscribers,  and  could  not  be  c  destroyed '  even  though  City  Edi- 
tors were  so  'unprincipled'  as  to  give  their  papers  away  and  pay  the  postage. 
Only  make  your  papers  what  they  should  be,  and  the  people  of  your  vicinity 
cannot  afford  to  do  without  them. 

"  Do  these  remarks  offend  any  ?  They  surely  ought  not,  for  they  are  dictated 
by  a  sincere  desire  to  benefit.  We  learned  what  little  we  know  of  our  busi- 
ness mainly  in  'sticking  type,'  &c.,  for  various  Country  papers,  and  ought  to 
know  something  about  them.  We  have  an  earnest  desire  that  they  should 


HIS    PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS.  419 

•deserve  a  generous  support  and  receive  it,  for  we  know  how  essential  a  good 
Country  Press  is." 

ADVERTISING  AND    CASH. 

"  Extensive  Advertising  of  itself  is  morally  certain  to  work  a  revolution  in 
trade,  by  driving  thousands  of  the  easy-going  out  of  it,  and  concentrating  bus- 
iness in  the  hands  of  the  few  who  know  how  to  obtain  and  keep  it.  Unite  with 
this  the  substitution  of  cash  for  credit,  and  one-fifth  of  those  now  engaged  in 
trade  will  amply  suffice  to  do  the  whole — and  will  soon  have  it  to  do.  The  rev- 
olution is  already  begun." 

IN  PEACE,  PEEPAEE   FOE   WAE. 

"It  is  not  true  that  our  best  security  for  peace  is  keeping  up  an  army  at  a 
cost  of  $15,000,000  a  year  to  the  people.  All  that  we  need  are  iron,  lead,  men, 
good  schools,  and  good  roads.  There  is  more  of  military  capability  for  de- 
fense in  one  railroad  than  in  all  the  fortifications  from  Boston  to  Charleston. 
No  ;  we  want  the  legislation  that  will  make  the  country  independent  and  pros- 
perous ;  we  want  the  money-changers  driven  from  the  temple  ;  in  each  State, 
if  you  will,  a  school  for  the  diffusion  of  the  science  of  civil  engineering  and 
military  science,  to  convert  our  people  in  case  of  need  into  '  disciplined  sol- 
diers.' It  does  indeed  behoove  us  in  peace  to  prepare  for  war ;  but  this  is  all 
the  preparation  we  want." 

TO    COTJNTEY   MEECHANTS. 

"  The  merchant's  virtue  should  be  not  merely  negative  and  obstructive — it 
should  be  actively  beneficent.  He  should  use  opportunities  afforded  by  his 
vocation  to  foster  agricultural  and  mechanical  improvement,  to  advance  the 
cause  of  education  and  diffuse  the  principles  not  only  of  virtue  but  of  refine- 
ment and  correct  taste.  He  should  be  continually  on  the  watch  for  whatever 
seems  calculated  to  instruct,  ennoble,  refine,  dignify  and  benefit  the  comruu'- 
nity  in  which  he  lives.  He  should  be  an  early  and  generous  patron  of  useful 
inventions  and  discoveries,  so  far  as  his  position  and  means  will  permit.  Ho 
should  be  a  regular  purchaser  of  new  and  rare  books,  such  as  the  majority 
will  not  buy,  yet  ought  to  read,  with  a  view  to  the  widest  dissemination  of  the 
truths  they  unfold.  If  located  in  the  country,  he  should  never  visit  the  city 
to  replenish  his  stock  without  endeavoring  to  bring  back  something  that  will 
afford  valuable  suggestions  to  his  customers  and  neighbors.  If  these  are  in 
good  part  farmers,  and  no  store  in  the  vicinity  is  devoted  especially  to  this 
department,  he  should  be  careful  to  keep  a  supply  of  the  best  plows  and  other 
implements  of  farming,  as  well  as  the  choicest  seeds,  cuttings,  &c.,  and  those 
fertilizing  substances  best  adapted  to  the  soil  of  his  township,  or  most  advan- 
tageously transported  thither  ;  and  those  he  should  be  very  willing  to  sell  afe 
cost,  especially  to  the  poor  or  the  penurious,  in  order  to  encourage  their  gen- 


420  POSITION   AND    INFLUENCE    OF    HORACE    GREELEY. 

eral  acceptance  and  use.  Though  he  make  no  profit  directly  on  the  sale  of 
these,  he  is  indirectly  but  substantially  benefited  by  whatsoever  shall  increase 
the  annual  production  of  his  township,  and  thus  the  ability  of  his  customers 
to  purchase  and  consume  his  goods.  The  merchant  whose  customers  and 
neighbors  are  enabled  to  turn  off  three,  five,  seven  or  nine  hundred  dollars' 
worth  of  produce  per  annum  from  farms  which  formerly  yielded  but  one  or 
two  hundred  dollars'  worth,  beyond  the  direct  consumption  of  their  occupants, 
is  in  the  true  and  safe  road  to  competence  and  wealth  if  he  knows  how  to 
manage  his  business.  Every  wild  wood  or  waste  morass  rendered  arable  and 
fruitful,  every  field  made  to  grow  fifty  bushels  of  grain  per  acre,  where  but 
fifteen  or  twenty  were  formally  realized,  is  a  new  tributary  to  the  stream  of  his 
trade,  and  so  clearly  conducive  to  his  prosperity." 

TENEMENT   HOUSES. 

"The  wretched,  tumble-down  rookeries  now  largely  inhabited  by. the  poor 
of  our  city  are  horribly  wasteful  in  every  way — wasteful  of  space,  of  prop- 
erty, of  health,  of  life.  Sweep  away  all  these  kennels  on  a  block — say  about 
Elizabeth  or  Stanton  street,  and  build  up  in  their  stead  a  substantial  struc- 
ture, six  to  eight  stories  high,  with  basement  and  sub-cellar,  the  whole  divided 
into  rooms  and  suites  of  rooms  for  families  and  single  persons,  with  baths, 
wash-houses,  refectories,  &c.,  in  the  basement,  and  public  and  private  parlors, 
library,  reading-room,  &c.,  on  the  second  floors.  Let  the  first  floor  for  stores 
or  shops,  and  a  part  of  the  second  for  offices  if  required  ;  put  the  whole  build- 
ing in  charge  of  some  responsible  person  disqualified  for  rugged  labor,  to  be 
let  at  reasonable  rates,  payable  monthly  in  advance — the  highest  story  not 
more  than  fifty  cents  per  bed-room.  Such  an  edifice  (economizing  the  space 
now  required  for  cooking,  washing,  yard-room,  &c.)  might  afford  accommoda- 
tions to  families  at  $100  to  $200,  according  to  size  and  location  ;  while  two 
seamstresses  might  have  an  attic  in  common  for  one  dollar  each  per  month. 
As  each  family  could  hire  a  parlor  or  bed-room  (retained  for  this  purpose)  when- 
ever it  had  company,  no  one  need  hire  regularly  any  more  room  than  it  abso- 
lutely needed,  while  a  large  square  in  the  center  of  the  block  should  be  embel- 
lished with  trees  and  shrubbery,  gravel-walks,  grass- plat  and  fountain.  One 
such  edifice,  filled  with  tenants  and  paying  ten  per  cent,  to  its  owners,  with  a 
liberal  margin  for  repairs,  would  very  soon  be  imitated  and  improved  upon, 
until  our  whole  laboring  population  would  be  far  better  lodged  than  they  now 
are,  at  half  the  expense,  while  room  would  be  made  on  our  Island  for  thrice 
the  population  it  can  stow  away  under  the  present  architectural  anarchy.  Pes- 
tilence would  be  all  but  rendered  impossible  by  this  building  reform." 

These  paragraphs,  selected  from  more  than  a  hundred  of  similar 
tendency,  will  show  better  than  ever  so  much  statement  by  another 


APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS.  421 

hand,  what  the  nature  of  Horace  Greeley's  influence  is  upon  the 
affairs  of  his  time,  and  upon  the  conduct  of  those  who  value  his 
opinion.  That  his  practice  and  his  preaching  correspond,  the  reader 
is  aware.  He  Jcnows  whereof  he  affirms,  and  his  message  is  exactly 
suited  to  our  case;  hence,  its  power. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

APPEAKANCE — MANNEES — HABITS. 

His  person  and  countenance— Phrenological  developments— His  rustic  manners— Town 
eccentricities— Horace  Greeley  in  Broadway— 'Horatius'  at  church— Horace  Greeley 
at  home. 

HOEACE  GEEELEY  stands  five  feet  ten  and  a  half  inches,  in 
his  stockings.  He  weighs  one  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds. 
Since  his  return  from  Europe  in  1851,  he  has  increased  in  weight, 
and  promises  to  attain,  in  due  time,  something  of  the  dignity  which 
belongs  to  amplitude  of  person.  He  stoops  considerably,  not  from 
age,  but  from  a  constitutional  pliancy  of  the  back-bone,  aided  by 
his  early  habit  of  incessant  reading.  In  walking,  he  swings  or 
sways  from  side  to  side.  Seen  from  behind,  he  looks,  as  he  walks 
with  head  depressed,  bended  back,  and  swaying  gait,  like  an  old 
man  ;  an  illusion  which  is  heightened,  if  a  stray  lock  of  white  hair 
escapes  from  under  his  hat.  But  the  expression  of  his  face  is.  sin- 
gularly and  engagingly  youthful.  His  complexion  is  extremely  fair, 
and  a  smile  plays  ever  upon  his  countenance.  His  head,  measured 
round  the  organs  of  Individ aality  and  Philoprogenitiveness,  is  twen- 
ty-three and  a  half  inches  in  circumference,  which  is  considerably 
larger  than  the  average.  His  forehead  is  round  and  full,  and  rises 
into  a  high  and  ample  dome.  The  hair  is  white,  inclining  to  red  at 
the  ends,  and  thinly  scattered  over  the  head.  Seated  in  company, 
with  his  hat  off,  he  looks  not  unlike  the  '  Philosopher'  he  is  often 
called ;  no  one  could  take  him  for  a  common  man. 

According  to  the  Phrenological  Journal,  his  brain  is  very  large, 
in  the  right  place,  well  balanced,  and  of  the  best  form,  long,  nar- 


422  APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS. 

row,  and  high.  It  indicates,  says  the  same  authority,  small  animal- 
ity  and  selfishness,  extreme  benevolence,  natural  nobleness,  and  loft- 
iness of  aim.  His  controlling  organs  are,  Adhesiveness,  Benevo- 
lence, Firmness,  and  Conscientiousness.  Benevolence  is  small ;  De- 
structiveness  and  Acquisitiveness  less.  Arnativeness  and  Philopro- 
genitiveness  are  fully  developed.  The  Love  of  Approbation  is  prom- 
inent ;  Self-Esteem  not  so.  ^Resistance  and  Moral  Courage  are  very 
full;  Secretiveness  full;  Cautiousness  large;  Continuity  small; 
Ideality  fair  ;  Taste  very  small ;  Imitation  small ;  Mirthfulness  very 
large ;  Eventuality  and  Comparison  large  ;  Language  good ;  Rea- 
soning better ;  Agreeableness  deficient ;  Intuition  great ;  Tempera- 
ment active.  His  body,  adds  the  Phrenologist,  is  not  enough  for 
his  head.  Time,  as  I  have  just  remarked,  is  remedying  that. 

In  manner,  Horace  Greeley  is  still  a  rustic.  The  Metropolis  has 
not  been  able  to  make  much  impression  upon  him  He  lives  amidst 
the  million  of  his  fellow-citizens,  in  their  various  uniforms,  an  unas- 
similated  man. 

Great,  very  great,  as  we  all  perceive,  is  the  assimilating  power  of 
great  cities.  A  youth  comes  here  to  New  York,  awkward,  ill-dress- 
ed, bashful,  and  capable  of  being  surprised.  He  visits  his  country 
home,  after  only  a  few  years'  residence  in  the  city,  a  changed  being ; 
his  clothes,  his  manners,  his  accent,  and  his  affectations,  are  '  town- 
made.'  His  hair  is  shorter  and  more  elaborately  brushed ;  his 
words  are  fewer  and  he  utters  them  in  a  lower  tone ;  his  collar  is 
higher;  he  wears  strange  things  fastened  in  a  curious  way;  he  gets 
up  late  in  the  morning,  and  takes  his  sustenance  with  a  fork.  The 
country  people,  the  younger  ones  at  least,  are  rather  overawed  by 
him,  and  secretly  resolve  to  have  their  next  coat  made  like  his. 
What  he  calls  his  opinions,  too,  are  not  what  they  were.  His  talk 
is  a  languid  echo  of  the  undertone  of  conservative  indifference 
which  prevails  in  the  counting-rooms  where  he  has  plied  the  assid- 
uous pen,  or  wagged  the  wheedling  tongue.  He  is,  in  a  word, 
another  man.  He  is  a  stranger  in  his  father's  house.  He  comes 
back  to  town,  and,  as  years  roll  on,  he  hardens  and  sharpens  into 
the  finished  citizen. 

It  is  so  with  most,  but  not  with  all.  Some  men  there  are — very 
few,  yet  some — who  resist  effectually,  and  to  the  last,  the  assimilat- 
ing influence  of  cities.  These  are  the  oddities,  the  stared-at,  the 


HORACE  GREELEY  IN  BROADWAY.  423 

men  of  whom  anecdotes  are  told.  They  are  generally  either  much 
wiser,  or  else  much  more  nearly  mad  than  their  fellow-citizens. 
Girard,  the  tough,  sensible,  benevolent  banker  of  Philadelphia  was 
an  oddity ;  and  so  was  that  other  Philadelphian  who  placed  all  his 
hopes  of  distinction  upon  his  persistence  in  the  practice  of  not 
wearing  a  hat.  Franklin  was  an  oddity ;  and  so  was  he  who, 
says  popular  tradition,  took  his  nightly  repose  in  a  lime-kiln,  and 
never  used  a  clothes-brush.  It  is  best,  perhaps,  not  to  be  odd  ;  and, 
certainly,  the  wisest  man  need  not  be.  The  saying  of  Goethe  on 
this  subject  seems  good  and  commendable,  that  people  who  are 
compelled  to  differ  from  the  world  in  important  things  should  take 
all  the  more  pains  to  conform  to  it  in  things  unimportant.  Yet  all 
large  towns  contain  one  or  more — always  one — of  the  eccentric 
sort.  It  is  a  way  large  towns  have. 

I  have  seen  Horace  Greeley  in  Broadway  on  Sunday  morning 
with  a  hole  in  his  elbow  and  straws  clinging  to  his  hat.  I  have 
seen  him  asleep  while  Alboni  was  singing  her  grandest.  "When  he 
is  asked  respecting  his  health,  he  answers  sometimes  by  the  single 
word  '  stout,'  and  there  the  subject  drops.  He  is  a  man  who  could 
save  a  Nation,  but  never  learn  to  tie  a  cravat ;  no,  not  if  Brummell 
gave  him  a  thousand  lessons. 

The  manner  and  style  of  the  man,  however,  can  best  be  shown 
by  printing  here  two  short  pieces  of  narrative,  which  I  chance  to 
have  in  my  possession.  An  enthusiastic  youth,  fresh  from  school 
and  the  country,  came  a  few  years  ago  to  the  city  to  see  the  lions. 
The  following  is  a  part  of  one  of  his  letters  home.  He  describes 
'  Horatius '  at  church,  and  does  it  well : 

"  I  have  seen  Horace  Greeley,  sister  mine,  and  I  am  going  to  tell 
you  all  about  it. 

"It  is  Sunday  morning.  The  weather  is!  fine.  The  bells  are 
ringing.  People  are  going  to  church.  Broadway,  from  Grace 
Church  to  the  Battery,  is  fringed  on  both  sides  with  a  procession  of 
bright-colored  fellow-creatures  moving  with  less  than  their  usual 
languor,  in  the  hope  of  not  being  too  late  at  church.  The  steps  of 
the  crowd,  I  observe,  for  the  first  time,  are  audible  ;  for,  no  pro- 
fane vehicle,  no  omnibus,  cart,  hack,  or  wagon,  drowns  all  other 
noises  in  their  ceaseless  thunder.  Only  a  private  carriage  rolls 
along  occasionally,  laden  with  a  family  of  the  uppermost  thousand, 


424  APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS. 

bound  for  Trinity  or  St.  George's,  or  the  Brick  Chapel,  where  Dr. 
Spring  discourses  of  '  First  Things'  to  First  Things.  It  is  possible 
now,  and  safe,  for  the  admiring  stranger,  your  affectionate  brother, 
to  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  to  discover  that  it  is  per- 
fectly straight,  from  the  rising  ground  above  the  Park  to  where  the 
tall,  white  spire  of  Grace  Church,  so  strikingly  terminates  the  beau- 
tiful promenade — a  feat  which  no  man  hath  been  able  to  accom- 
plish on  a  week-day  these  thirty  years.  The  sun  upon  this  cloud- 
less morning  brilliantly  lights  up  the  scene,  and  covers  all  things 
with  glory. 

"  I  am  among  the  church-goers,  and  I  saunter  down-town-wards. 
I  make  my  observations  on  the  passing  throng,  and  marvel  chiefly 
that,  among  so  many  countenances,  so  few  should  wear  an  express- 
ion of  intelligence,  so  few  even  of  bodily  health,  and  wonder  if, 
after  all,  the  nineteenth  century  is  really  and  truly  so  great  a  cen- 
tury as  it  thinks  it  is.  But  there  is  walking  just  before  me  a  man 
whose  contour,  walk  and  attire,  are  strikingly  different  from  those  of 
every  other  person  in  the  crowd, — a  tall  man,  slightly  made,  with  a 
stoop  and  shamble.  I  know  not  why  it  is,  but  I  immediately 
take  that  man  to  be  somebody,  a  Western  member  of  Congress,  per- 
haps, and  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  when  I  hear  it  whispered, 
1  That 's  Horace  Greeley.'  I  prick  up  my  ears,  and  resolve  to  fol- 
low him  wherever  he  goes. 

"  Horatius,  let  me  assure  you,  is  a  person  in  whose  mind  there 
lingers  none  of  childhood's  reverence  for  the  institution  of  Sunday 
clothes.  Do  not  conclude  from  this  circumstance  that  he  is  one  of 
those  superfine  gentlemen  who,  in  their  magnanimous  endeavor  to 
differ  from  the  profane  vulgar,  contrive  to  be  as  shabbily  dressed  on 
Sundays,  when  others  dress  in  their  best,  as  they  are  elegantly  at- 
tired on  Saturdays,  when  people  in  general  are  shabbiest.  Hora- 
tius is  no  such  person.  No  fine  gentleman  could  be  brought  on  any 
terms  to  appear  in  Broadway  in  the  rig  he  wore  on  this  occasion. 
My  eye  was  first  caught  by  his  boots,  which  were  coarse,  large  and 
heavy,  such  as  dangle  from  the  ceiling  of  a  country  store,  such  as 
'  stalk  a-field'  when  ploughmen  go  forth  to  plough.  This  particular 
pair  can  never,  in  the  whole  course  of  their  existence,  have  added 
one  farthing  to  the  colossal  fortune  of  Day  and  Martin.  They  were 
spattered  with  mud,  and  so  were  the  trowsers  that,  curtailed  of 


HIS    DRESS.  425 

fair  proportions,  hung  over  their  tops.  His  hat  is  a  large,  black 
beaver,  and  it  certainly  has  known  no  touch  of  the  brush  since  its 
maker  gave  it  the  finishing  twirl,  and  pronounced  it  good.  It  dif- 
fers from  the  hats  of  mankind  in  general,  as  an  enraged  porcupine 
differs  from  a  porcupine  whose  evil  passions  slumber.  It  appears 
to  have  been  thrown  on  his  head,  and  has  chanced  to  fall  rather 
behind,  like  Sam  Slick's.  Fragments  of  straw  adhere  to  the  nap, 
as  though  the  owner  had  been  taking  morning  exercise  in  a  stable. 
In  truth,  I  hear  that  he  has  little  faith  in  *  Orange  County,'  and 
keeps  a  cow.  A  very  long,  very  loose,  well-worn,  white  over-coat, 
with  the  collar  standing  up,  and  the  long  skirts  flying  behind,  en- 
velopes the  singular  figure.  This  coat  is  long,  apparently,  because  it 
Avas  made  a  long  time  ago,  before  any  Parisian  or  London  tailor  had 
from  his  back-shop  issued  to  Christendom  the  mandate, '  LET  THE 

OVER-COATS     OF     MANKIND     BE     WORN   SHOET   TILL   FURTHER   NOTICE.' 

There  is,  indeed,  so  little  of  the  citizen  in  the  appearance  of  the 
individual  I  am  describing,  that,  if  it  were  not  Sunday,  he  would 
be  taken,  often  must  be  taken,  for  a  farmer  just  come  to  town 
upon  a  load  of  produce,  who  is  now  hurrying  about  the  streets 
on  errands  for  the  good  wife  at  home. 

"  On  he  goes,  and  I  at  his  heels.  At  the  door  of  the  building 
known  as  the  Stuyvesant  Institute,  he  enters.  A  slight  change, 
I  perceive,  has  taken  place  in  the  exterior  of  this  edifice  since  I 
passed  it  yesterday.  The  Daguerreotype-cases  and  exhibition 
transparences  have  been  removed,  and  over  the  door  a  sign- 
board, similar  in  style  and  cost  to  those  which  tell  a  hungry  public 
where  Family  Baking  is  done  at  ten  and  two,  announces,  that 
here  the  Independent  Christian  Society  holds  its  meetings,  and  that 
the  seats  are  Free.  Other  sign-boards  about  the  door  set  forth 
the  same  facts.  Fired  by  curiosity,  and  emboldened  by  the  promis- 
ed freedom  of  the  seats,  I  enter,  and  find  my  way  to  the  lecture 
room. 

"  It  is  a  semi-circular  apartment  of  six  hundred  medical  student 
capacity,  slanting  steeply  downward  to  the  lecturer's  platform.  It 
is  early,  and  only  a  few  of  the  Independent  Christians  have  arrived. 
Horatius,  I  see,  has  taken  the  seat  nearest  the  door,  and  is  already 
absorbed  in  the  perusal  of  a  newspaper,  the  London  Times.  With 
his  hat  off  and  his  coat  thrown  open,  ho  looks  quite  a  different  per- 


426  APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS. 

son.  True,  the  newly-revealed  garments  are  no  more  ornamental 
than  those  I  had  already  seen.  It  is  clear  that  Beman's  artistic 
hand  bore  no  part  in  the  production  of  that  crumpled  shirt,  nor  in 
the  getting-up  of  that  overlapping  collar,  nor  in  the  frantic  tie  of 
that  disconsolate  neckerchief.  But  the  eye  of  the  stranger  rests  not 
upon  these  things  ;  they  are  remembered  afterwards ;  the  stranger 
is  taken  up  in  the  contemplation  of  that  countenance,  upon  which 
Benignity's  self  has  alighted,  and  sits  enthroned  on  whitest  ivory. 
Such  a  face,  so  fair,  so  good !  No  picture  has  caught  its  expression, 
at  once  youthful  and  venerable,  at  once  feminine  and  manly.  A 
smile,  like  that  which  plays  over  a  baby's  face  when  it  dreams, 
rests  ever  on  his  countenance,  and  lends  to  it  an  indescribable 
charm.  It  is  expressive  of  inward  serenity,  kindliness  of  nature, 
and  blamelessness  of  life. 

"The  congregation  assembles,  and  the  room  becomes  half  full. 
The  gentleman  in  the  white  coat  continues  to  read.  The  preacher 
arrives,  the  '  Eev.  T.  L.  Harris,'  a  slender,  pale,  dark-haired,  black- 
«yed  man,  with  the  youthful  look  of  seventeen.  He  glances  at  the 
extremely  Independent  Christian  with  the  newspaper,  as  he  brushes 
by,  but  receives  no  nod  of  recognition  in  return.  He  gains  his  place 
on  the  platform,  stands  up  to  begin,  the  people  fumbling  for  their 
hymn-books.  Horatius  gives  no  sign ;  the  Times  possesses  him 
wholly.  Will  he  read  all  through  the  service,  and  disconcert  the 
young  minister  ?  No.  At  the  first  word  from  the  preacher's  lips, 
he  drops  the  paper  upon  the  bench,  and  addresses  himself  to — what 
do  you  think  ?  Meditation  ?  Finding  the  hymn  ?  Looking  about 
at  the  congregation  ?  None  of  these.  Leaning  his  white  head  upon 
his  fair,  slender  hand,  and  his  elbow  upon  the  back  of  the  pew,  he 
closes  his  eyes,  and  instantaneously  goes  to  sleep  !  Not  Wellington, 
nor  Napoleon,  nor  Ney,  nor  Julius  Caesar,  ever,  after  the  longest 
fight,  was  sooner  in  the  land  of  dreams.  To  all  appearance — 
mind,  I  do  not  say  it  was  so,  but  to  all  appearance — he  was  asleep 
before  the  hymn  had  been  read  to  the  end.  Overtasked  nature  will 
assert  and  have  her  rights,  and  the  weary  wanderer  find  repose  at 
last.  Horatius  neither  stands  at  the  singing,  nor  during  the  prayer 
does  he  assume  any  of  the  singular  attitudes  which  are  said  to  be 
those  of  devotion,  nor  does  he  pay  the  slightest  attention  to  the  ser- 
raon,  though  it  was  a  truly  extraordinary  performance,  displaying  a 


HORACE  GREELEY  AT  HOME.  427 

mighty  sweep  of  intelligence,  an  amazing  fervency  of  hero-worship, 
and  an  uneqnaled  splendor  of  illustration.  It  was  delivered  with 
a  vehemence  of  affection  that  made  the  speaker's  frail  frame  trem- 
ble, as  though  the  spirit  it  encased  were  struggling  to  escape  its 
tenement.  And  still  the  editor  slept.  Not  a  word  of  the  sermon 
did  he  seem  to  hear,  unless  it  was  the  last  word ;  for,  at  the  very 
last,  he  roused  his  drowsy  powers,  and  as  Mr.  Harris  sat  down, 
Horace  Greeley  woke  up.  Eefreshed  by  his  slumbers,  he  looks 
about  him,  and,  hearing  the  premonitory  tinkle  of  the  collection,  he 
thrusts  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  draws  forth  a  small  silver  coin, 
which  he  drops  into  the  box,  where  it  shines  among  the  copper 
like  a  '  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world.'  The  service  over,  he  lingers 
not  a  moment,  and  I  catch  my  last  glimpse  of  him  as  he  posts  down 
Broadway  toward  the  Tribune  office,  the  white  coat-tails  streaming 
behind  him,  his  head  thrust  forward  into  the  FUTURE,  his  body 
borne  along  by  the  force  of  to-morrow's  leading  article.  His  ap- 
pearance is  decidedly  that  of  a  man  of  progress,  and  of  progress 
against  the  wind,  for  his  hat  cannot  quite  keep  up  with  his  head. 
As  he  threads  his  way  through  the  well-dressed  throng,  gentlemen 
tell  ladies  who  he  is,  and  both  turn  and  gaze  after  him,  till  the 
ghostly  garment  is  lost  behind  the  many-colored  clouds  of  silk  and 
cashmere." 

Thus  wrote  the  enthusiastic,  lion-loving  youth.  The  scene  now 
changes,  and  the  time  is  put  four  or  five  years  forward.  Mr.  Gree- 
ley, in  the  winter  season,  is  "  at  home"  on  Saturday  evenings  to  all 
callers.  A  gentleman  attended  one  of  the  Saturday  evenings  last 
winter,  took  notes  of  what  he  saw  and  heard,  which  he  has  since 
kindly  written  out  for  insertion  here  : 

"  In  point  of  pretension,  Horace  Greeley's  house  in  Nineteenth 
street  is  about  midway  between  the  palaces  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
and  the  hovels  of  the  Five  Points.  It  is  one  of  a  row  of  rather 
small  houses,  two  and  a  half  stories  high,  built  of  brick,  and  paint- 
ed brown ;  the  rent  of  which,  I  was  told,  is  likely  to  be  about  seven 
hundred  dollars  a  year.  It  was  a  chilly,  disagreeable  evening.  I 
went  early,  hoping  to  have  a  little  talk  with  the  editor  before  other 
company  should  arrive.  I  rang  the  bell,  and  looked  through  the 
pane  at  the  side  of  the  door.  The  white  coat  was  not  upon  its  ac- 
customed peg,  and  the  old  hat  stuffed  with  newspapers  was  not  in 


428  APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS. 

its  usual  place  at  the  bottom  of  the  hat-stand.  Therefore  1  knew 
that  the  wearer  of  these  articles  was  not  at  home,  before  the  '  girl' 
told  me  so  ;  but,  upon  her  informing  me  that  he  was  expected  in  a 
few  minutes,  I  concluded  to  go  in  and  wait.  The  entrance-hall  is 
exceedingly  narrow,  and  tl.c  stairs,  narrower  still,  begin  at  a  few 
feet  from  the  door,  affording  room  only  for  the  hat-stand  and  a 
chair.  The  carpet  on  the  stairs  and  hall  was  common  in  pattern, 
coarse  in  texture.  A  lady,  the  very  picture  of  a  prosperous  farm- 
er's wife,  with  her  clean  delaine  dress  and  long,  wide,  white  apron, 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and  came  down  to  meet  me.  She 
lighted  the  gas  in  the  parlors,  and  then,  summoned  by  the  crying 
of  a  child  up  stairs,  left  me  to  my  observations. 

"  Neither  I  nor  anybody  else  ever  saw  parlors  so  curiously  fur- 
nished. There  are  three  of  them,  and  the  inventory  of  the  furniture 
would  read  thus : — One  small  mahogany  table  at  the  head  of  the 
front  parlor  ;  one  lounge  in  ditto  ;  eleven  light  cane- chairs  in  front 
and  back  parlors ;  one  book-case  of  carved  black- walnut  in  the 
small  apartment  behind  the  back  parlor ;  and,  except  the  carpets, 
not  another  article  of  furniture  in  either  room.  But  the  walls  were 
almost  covered  with  paintings;  the  mantel-pieces  were  densely 
peopled  with  statuettes,  busts,  and  medallions ;  in  a  corner  on  a 
pedestal  stood  a  beautiful  copy  of  (I  believe)  Powers'  Proserpine  in 
marble ;  and  various  other  works  of  art  were  disposed  about  the 
floor  or  leaned  against  the  walls.  Of  the  quality  of  the  pictures  I 
could  not,  in  that  light,  form  an  opinion.  The  subjects  of  more 
than  half  of  them  were  religious,  such  as,  the  Virgin  rapt ;  Peter, 
lovest  thou  me  ?  Christ  crowned  with  thorns ;  Mary,  Joseph,  and 
Child  ;  Virgin  and  Child  ;  a  woman  praying  before  an  image  in  a 
cathedral ;  Mary  praying  ;  Hermit  and  Skull ;  and  others.  There 
were  some  books  upon  the  table,  among  them  a  few  annuals  con- 
taining contributions  by  Horace  Greeley,  volumes  of  Burns,  Byron, 
and  Hawthorne,  Downing's  Rural  Essays,  West's  complete  Analysis 
of  the  Holy  Bible,  and  Ballou's  Voice  of  Universalisni. 

"I  waited  an  hour.  There  came  a  double  and  decided  ring  at 
the  bell.  No  one  answered  the  summons.  Another  and  most  tre- 
mendous ring  brought  the  servant  to  the  door,  and  in  a  moment, 
the  face  of  the  master  of  the  house  beamed  into  the  room.  He 
apologized  thus :— '  I  ought  to  have  been  here  sooner,  but  I  could  n't.' 


HORACE    GREELEY    AT    HOME.  429 

He  flung  off  his  overcoat,  hung  it  up  in  the  hall,  and  looking  into 
the  parlor,  said  :  '  Just  let  me  run  up  and  see  my  babies  one  min- 
ute ;  I  have  n't  seen  'em  all  day,  you  know ;'  and  he  sprung  up  the 
stairs  two  steps  at  a  time.  I  heard  him  talk  in  high  glee  to  the 
children  in  the  room  above,  for  just  '  one  minute,'  and  then  he  re- 
joined me.  He  began  to  talk  something  in  this  style : 

"  ;  Sit  down.  I  have  had  a  rough  day  of  it— eaten  nothing  since 
breakfast — just  got  in  from  my  farm — been  up  the  country  lecturing 
— started  from  Goshen  this  morning  at  five — broke  down — crossed 
the  river  on  the  ice — had  a  hard  time  of  it — ice  a  good  deal  broken 
and  quite  dangerous — lost  the  cars  on  this  side — went  dogging  around 
to  hire  a  conveyance — got  to  Sing  Sing — went  over  to  my  farm  and 
transacted  my  business  there  as  well  as  I  could  in  the  time — started 
for  the  city,  and  as  luck  would  have  it,  they  had  taken  off  the  four 
o'clock  train — did  n't  know  that  I  should  get  down  at  all — harnessed 
up  my  own  team,  and  pushed  over  to  Sing  Sing  again — hadn't 
gone  far  before  snap  went  the  whippletree — got  another  though — 
and  reached  Sing  Sing  just  two  minutes  before  the  cars  came  along 
— I  've  just  got  in— my  feet  are  cold — let 's  go  to  the  fire.' 

"  With  these  words,  he  rose  quickly  and  went  into  the  back  room, 
not  to  the  fire-place,  but  to  a  corner  near  the  folding  door,  where 
hot  air  gushed  up  from  «,  cheerless  round  hole  in  the  floor.  His 
dress,  as  I  now  observed,  amply  corroborated  his  account  of  the 
day's  adventures — shirt  all  crumpled,  cravat  all  awry,  coat  all 
wrinkles,  stockings  about  his  heels,  and  general  dilapidation. 

"  I  said  it  was  not  usual  at  the  West  to  go  into  a  corner  to  warm 
one's  feet ;  to  which  he  replied  by  quoting  some  verses  of  Holmes 
which  I  did  not  catch.  I  entreated  him  to  go  to  tea,  as  he  must  be 
hungry,  but  he  refused  'pine  blank,'  The  con\ersation  fell  upon 
poetry.  He  said  there  was  one  more  book  he  should  like  to  make 
before  he  died,  and  that  was  a  Song-Boole  for  the  People.  There 
was  no  collection  of  songs  in  existence  which  satisfied  his  idea  of 
what  a  popular  song-book  ought  to  be.  He  should  like  to  compile 
one,  or  help  do  it.  He  said  he  had  written  verses  himself,  but  was 
no  poet ;  and  bursting  into  a  prolonged  peal  of  laughter,  he  added, 
that  when  he  and  Park  Benjamin  were  editing  the  New  Yorker, 
he  wrote  some  verses  for  insertion  in  that  paper,  and  showed  them 
'to  '  Park,'  and  '  Park  '  roared  out,  '  Thunder  and  lightning,  Greeley, 


430  APPEARANCE MANNERS— HABITS. 

do  you  call  that  poetry  ?'  Speaking  of  a  certain  well-known  ver- 
sifier, he  said  :  '  He 's  a  good  fellow  enough,  but  he  can't  write  po- 
etry, and  if had  remained  in  Boston  he  would  have  killed 

him,  he  takes  criticism  so  hard.  As  for  me,  I  like  a  little  opposi- 
tion, I  enjoy  it,  I  can't  understand  the  feeling  of  those  thin-skinned 
people.' 

"  I  said  I  had  been  looking  to  see  what  books  he  preferred  should 
lie  on  his  table.  '  I  don't  prefer,'  he  said,  *  I  read  no  books.  I 
have  been  trying  for  years  to  get  a  chance  to  read  Wilhelm  Meister, 
and  other  books.  Was  Goethe  a  dissolute  man  ?'  To  which  I  re- 
plied with  a  sweeping  negative.  This  led  the  conversation  to  biog- 
raphy, and  he  remarked,  '  How  many  wooden  biographies  there  are 
about.  They  are  of  no  use.  There  are  not  half  a  dozen  good  biog- 
raphies in  our  language.  You  know  what  Oarlyle  says :  '  I  want  to 
know  what  a  man  eats,  what  time  he  gets  up,  what  color  his  stock- 
ings are  ?'  (His,  on  this  occasion,  were  white,  with  a  hole  in  each 
heel.)  '  There 's  no  use  in  any  man's  writing  a  biography  unless  he 
can  tell  what  no  one  else  can  tell.'  Seeing  me  glance  at  his  pictures, 
he  said  he  had  brought  them  from  Italy,  but  there  was  only  one 
or  two  of  them  that  he  boasted  of. 

"  A  talk  upon  politics  ensued.  He  said  he  had  had  enough  of 
party  politics.  He  would  speak  for  temperance,  and  labor,  and  ag- 
riculture, and  some  other  objects,  but  he  was  not  going  to  stump 
the  country  any  more  to  promote  the  interest  of  party  or  candidates. 
In  alluding  to  political  persons  he  used  the  utmost  freedom  of  vitu- 
peration, but  there  was  such  an  evident  absence  of  anger  and  bitter- 
ness on  his  part,  that  if  the  vituperated  individuals  had  overheard 
the  conversation,  they  would  not  have  been  offended,  but  amused. 
Speaking  of  association,  he  said :  *  Ah !  our  workingmen  must  be 
better  educated :  we  must  have  better  schools ;  they  must  learn  to 
confide  in  one  another  more;,  then  they  will  associate.'  Then, 
laughing,  he  added :  '  If  you  know  anybody  afflicted  with  democ- 
racy, tell  him  to  join  an  association ;  that  will  cure  him  if  anything 
will ;  still,  association  will  triumph  in  its  day,  and  in  its  own  way.' 

In  reply  to  G 's  definition  of  Webster  as  '  a  petty  man,  with 

petty  objects,  sought  by  petty  means,'  he  said :  '  I  call  him  a 

;  but  his  last  reply  to  Hayne  was  the  biggest  speech  yet 

made  ;  it 's  only  so  long,'  pointing  to  a  place  on  his  arm,  '  but  it's 


HORACE  GREELEY  AT  HOME.  431 

very  great.'  Another  remark  on  another  subject  elicited  from  him 
the  energetic  assertion  that  the  '  invention  of  the  key  was  the  dev- 
il's masterpiece.'  Alluding  to  a  recent  paragraph  of  his,  I  said  I 
thought  it  the  best  piece  of  English  he  had  ever  -written.  '  No,'  he 
replied,  '  there 's  a  bad  repetition  in  it  of  the  word  sober  in  the  same 
sentence ;  I  can  write  better  English  than  that.'  I  told  him  of 
the  project  of  getting  half  a  dozen  of  the  best  men  and  women 
of  the  country  to  join  in  preparing  a  series  of  school  reading 
books.  He  said,  '  They  would  be  in  danger  of  shooting  over  the 
heads  of  the  children.'  To  which  I  replied :  'No;  it  is  common 
men  who  do  that ;  great  men  are  simple,  and  akin  to  children.' 

"  A  little  child,  four  years  old,  with  long  flaxen  hair  and  ruddy 
cheeks,  came  in  and  said,  '  mother  wants  you  up  stairs.'  He  caught 
it  up  in  his  arms  with  every  manifestation  of  excessive  fondness, 
saying,  '  No,  you  rogue,  it 's  you  that  want  him ;'  and  the  child 
wriggled  out  of  his  arms  and  ran  away. 

"  As  I  was  going,  some  ladies  came  in,  and  I  remained  a  moment 
longer,  at  his  request.  He  made  a  languid  and  quite  indescribable 
attempt  at  introduction,  merely  mentioning  the  names  of  the  la- 
dies with  a  faint  5<?5  at  each.  One  of  them  asked  a  question  about 
Spiritualism.  He  said,  'I  have  paid  no  attention  to  that  subject  for 
two  years.  I  became  satisfied  it  would  lead  to  no  good.  In  fact,  I 
am  so  taken  up  with  the  things  of  this  world,  that  I  have  too  little 
time  to  spend  on  the  affairs  of  the  other.'  She  said,  '  a  distinction 
ought  to  be  made  between  those  who  investigate  the  phenomena 
as  phenomena,  and  those  who  embrace  them  fanatically.'  '  Yes,' 
said  he,  'I  have  no  objection  to  their  being  investigated  by  those 
who  have  more  time  than  I  have.'  'Have  you  heard,' asked  the 
lady,  'of  the  young  man  who  personates  Shakspeare?'  'No,' he 
replied,  'but  I  am  satisfied  there  is  no  folly  it  will  not  run  into.' 
Then  he  rose,  and  said,  '  Take  off  your  things  and  go  up  stairs.  I 
must  get  some  supper,  for  I  have  to  go  to  that  meeting  at  the  Tab- 
ernacle, to-night,'  (anti-Nebraska.) 

"As  I  passed  the  hat-stand  in  the  hall,  I  said,  'Here  is  that  im- 
mortal white  coat.'  He  smiled  and  said, 'People  suppose  it's  the 
same  old  coat,  but  it  is  n't.'  I  looked  questioningly,  and  he  contin- 
ued, '  The  original  white  coat  came  from  Ireland.  An  emigrant 
brought  it  out ;  he  wanted  money  and  I  wanted  a  coat ;  ao  I  bought 


432  APPEARANCE MANNERS HABITS. 

it  of  him  for  twenty  dollars,  and  it  was  the  best  coat  I  ever  had, 
They  do  work  well,  in  the  old  countries ;  not  in  such  a  hurry  as 
we  do.' 

"  The  door  closed,  and  I  was  alone  with  the  lamp-post.  In  another 
hour,  Horace  Greeley,  after  such  a  day  of  hunger  and  fatigue,  was 
speaking  to  an  audience  of  three  thousand  people  in  the  Tabernacle." 
These  narratives,  with  other  glimpses  previously  afforded,  will 
perhaps  give  the  reader  a  sufficient  insight  into  Horace  Greeley's 
hurried,  tumultuous  way  of  life. 

Not  every  day,  however,  is  as  hurried  and  tumultuous  as  this. 
Usually,  he  rises  at  seven  o'clock,  having  returned  from  the  office 
about  midnight.  He  takes  but  two  meals  a  day,  breakfast  at  eight, 
dinner  when  he  can  get  it,  generally  about  four.  Tea  and  coffee 
he  drinks  never ;  cocoa  is  his  usual  beverage.  To  depart  from  his 
usual  routine  of  diet,  or  to  partake  of  any  viand  which  experience 
has  shown  to  be  injurious,  he  justly  denominates  a  'sin,'  and 
*  groans '  over  it  with  very  sincere  repentance.  A  public  dinner  is 
one  of  his  peculiar  aversions ;  and,  indeed,  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  human  nature  ever  presents  itself  in  a  light  more  despica- 
ble than  at  a  public  dinner,  particularly  towards  the  close  of  the 
entertainment.  Mr.  Greeley  is  a  regular  subscriber  to  the  New 
York  Tribune,  and  pays  for  it  at  the  usual  rate  of  one  shilling  a 
week.  As  soon  as  it  arrives  in  the  morning,  he  begins  the  perusal 
of  that  interesting  paper,  and  examines  every  department  of  it  with 
great  care,  bestowing  upon  each  typographical  error  a  heart-felt 
anathema.  His  letters  arrive.  They  vary  in  number  from  twenty 
to  fifty  a  day ;  every  letter  requiring  an  answer,  is  answered  forth- 
with ;  and,  not  unfrequently,  twenty  replies  are  written  and  dis- 
patched by  him  in  one  morning.  In  the  intervals  of  work,  there 
is  much  romping  with  the  children.  But  two  are  left  to  him  out 
of  six.  Toward  noon,  or  soon  after,  the  editor  is  on  his  way  to  his 
office. 

Mr.  Greeley  has  few  intimate  friends  and  no  cronies.  He  gives 
no  parties,  attends  few ;  has  no  pleasures,  so  called ;  and  suffers  lit- 
tle pain.  In  some  respects,  he  is  exceedingly  frank ;  in  others,  no 
man  is  more  reserved.  For  example — his  pecuniary  affairs,  around 
which  most  men  throw  an  awful  mystery,  he  has  no  scruples  about 
revealing  to  any  passing  stranger,  or  even  to  the  public;  and  that 


HIS    PECULIARITIES.  433 

in  the  fullest  detail.  But  he  can  keep  a  secret  with  any  man  living, 
and  he  seldom  talks  about  what  interests  him  most.  Margaret  Ful- 
ler had  a  passion  for  looking  at  the  naked  souls  of  her  friends ;  and 
she  often  tried  to  get  a  peep  into  the  inner  bosom  of  Horace  Gree- 
ley ;  but  he  kept  it  buttoned  close  against  her  observation.  Indeed, 
the  kind  of  revelation  in  which  she  delighted,  he  entirely  detests ; 
as,  probably,  every  healthy  mind  does. 

He  loves  a  joke,  and  tells  a  comic  story  with  great  glee.  His 
cheerfulness  is  habitual,  and  probably  he  never  knew  two  consecu- 
tive hours  of  melancholy  in  his  life.  His  manner  is  sometimes  ex 
ceedingly  ungracious ;  he  is  not  apt  to  suppress  a  yawn  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  conceited  bore ;  but  if  the  bore  is  a  bore  innocently,  he 
submits  to  the  infliction  with  a  surprising  patience.  He  has  a  sin- 
gular hatred  of  bungling,  and  rates  a  bungler  sometimes  with  ex- 
traordinary vehemence.  But  he 

"  Carries  anger,  as  the  flint  bears  fire ; 
Who,  much  enforced,  shows  a  hasty  spark, 
And  straight  is  cold  again." 

He  clings  to  an  opinion,  however,  or  a  prejudice,  with  the  tenac- 
ity of  his  race ;  and  has  rarely  been  brought  to  own  himself  in  tho 
wrong.  If  he  changes  his  opinion,  which  sometimes  he  does,  he 
may  show  it  by  altered  conduct,  seldom  by  a  confession  in  words. 

His  peculiarities  of  dress  arise  from  two  causes:  1.  He  is  at  all 
times  deeply  absorbed  in  the  duties  of  his  vocation,  and  cannot 
think  of  his  dress  without  an  effort :  2.  He  has  (I  think)  the  cor- 
rect republican  feeling,  that  no  man  should  submit  to  have  menial 
offices  of  a  personal  nature  performed  for  him  by  another  man.  I 
mean,  such  offices  as  blacking  boots,  brushing  clothes,  etc. 

19 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

CONG  LUS ION. 

IF  Horace  Greeley  were  a  flower,  botanists  would  call  him  '  sin- 
gle,' and  examine  him  with  interest.  Botanists  find  small  pleasure 
in  those  plants,  the  pride  of  the  garden,  which  have  all  gone  to 
flower.  They  call  them  '  monsters.'  Such  are  not  beautiful  to  the 
eye  of  science,  because  they  are  not  harmonious,  culture  having  de- 
stroyed the  natural  proportion  of  their  parts.  Passing  by,  with  in- 
difference or  disgust,  the  perfumed  dandies  and  painted  belles  of 
the  flower-garden,  the  botanist  hangs  with  delight  over  the  simple 
denizens  of  the  wood-side  and  the  wood-path.  Horace  Greeley  is 
1  single.'  He  is  what  the  Germans  sometimes  style  '  a  nature.'  He 
is  not  complicated  nor  many-sided.  He  is  the  way  he  grew.  Other 
men  are  like  the  walking-sticks  in  a  bazaar.  He  was  cut  from  the 
woods.  The  bark  is  on  him,  the  knots  are  not  pared  smooth,  the 
crooks  have  not  been  bent  out,  and  all  the  polish  he  shows  is  deriv- 
ed from  use,  not  varnish.  He  could  say  the  first  part  of  the  cate- 
cjiism  without  telling  a  lie :  "Who  made  you  ?  God.  Walking-sticks 
often  make  the  same  reply,  but  not  with  truth.  To  say  of  most 
men  in  civilized  countries  that  God  made  them,  is  rank  flattery. 

The  character  of  a  man  is  derived,  1,  from  his  breed ;  2,  from  his 
breeding ;  3,  from  his  country ;  4,  from  his  time.  Horace  Greeley's 
poetry,  his  humanity,  his  tenderness,  all  that  makes  him  lovable 
and  pleasing,  his  mother  gave  him,  as  her  ancestors  had  given  them 
her,  with  her  Scottish  blood.  His  nice  sense  of  honor,  his  perse- 
verance, his  anxious  honesty,  his  tenacity,  all  that  renders  him  ef- 
fective and  reliable,  he  derived  from  his  father,  to  whose  English 
blood  such  qualities  belong.  He  passed  his  childhood  in  republican, 
puritan  New  England,  in  a  secluded  rural  region.  Thence  came  his 
habits  of  reflection,  his  readiness,  his  independence,  his  rustic  tough- 
ness and  roughness.  He  is  of  this  generation,  and  therefore  he  shares 
in  the  humanitary  spirit  which  yearns  in  the  bosom  of  every  true 


INTEREST    IN    HUMAN    WELFARE.  435 

Saxon  man  that  lives.  He  escaped  the  schools,  and  so  passed 
through  childhood  uncorrupt,  '  his  own  man,'  not  formed  upon  a 
pattern.  He  was  not  trained  up — he  grew  up.  Like  a  tree,  he  was 
left  to  seek  the  nourishment  he  needed  and  could  appropriate.  His 
breeding  was  unspeakably  fortunate.  It  helped  him  much,  hindered 
him  little ;  and  the  result  was,  a  man,  not  perfect  indeed,  very  im- 
perfect, as  all  men  are,  but  a  man,  natural,  peculiar,  original,  inter- 
esting ;  a  man  dear  to  other  men,  a  man  to  whom  other  men  are 
dear. 

Of  the  countless  gifts  which  God  bestows  upon  man,  the  rarest, 
the  divinest,  is  an  ability  to  take  supreme  interest  in  human  welfare. 
This  has  been  called  Genius ;  but  what  is  here  meant  is  more  than 
genius  ;  it  includes  genius  ;  it  is  the  parent  and  inspirer  of  genius ; 
it  is  above  genius.  If  any  pious  soul  will  accurately  ascertain 
what  it  is  in  the  character  of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,  the  contempla- 
tion of  which  fills  his  heart  with  rapture  and  his  eyes  with  tears, 
that  pious  soul  will  know  what  is  here  intended  by  the  expression 
'  supreme  interest  in  human  welfare.'  The  concurrent  instinct  of 
mankind,  in  all  ages,  in  every  clime,  proclaims,  that  tliis,  what- 
ever it  be  named,  is  the  divinest  quality  known  to  human  nature. 
It  is  that  which  man  supremely  honors ;  and  well  he  may.  Most 
of  us,  alarmed  at  the  dangers  that  beset  our  lives,  distracted  with 
cares,  blinded  with  desire  to  secure  our  own  safety,  are  absorbed  in 
schemes  of  personal  advantage.  A  few  men  go  apart,  ascend  a 
height,  survey  the  scene  with  serene,  unselfish  eye,  and  make  dis- 
coveries which  those  in  the  heat  of  the  struggle  could  never  ar- 
rive at.  But  for  such,  the  race  of  men  would  long  ago  have  extir- 
pated itself  in  its  mad,  blind  strife.  But  for  such,  it  would  never 
have  been  discovered  that  what  is  not  good  for  the  whole  swarm 
is  not  good  for  a  single  bee,  that  no  individual  can  be  safe  in  wel- 
fare, while  any  other  individual  is  not. 

Genius  ?  No.  That  is  not  the  word.  Dr.  Arnold  was  not  a  man 
of  genius.  Carlyle  is  not  a  man  of  genius.  Bat  Great  Britain 
owes  more  to  them  than  to  all  the  men  of  genius  that  have  lived 
since  Cromwell's  time.  Such  men  differ  from  the  poets  and  authors 
of  their  day,  precisely  in  the  same  way,  though  not,  perhaps,  in 
the  same  degree,  as  the  Apostles  differed  from  Cicero,  Seneca,  and 
Virgil.  Between  the  Clays  and  Websters  of  this  country  and  Horace 


436  CONCLUSION. 

Greeley,  the  difference  is  similar  in  Mnd.  Horace  Greeley,  Thomas 
Carlyle,  and  Dr.  Arnold,  have  each  uttered  much  which,  perhaps, 
the  world  will  not  finally  accept.  Such  men  seem  particularly  lia- 
ble to  a  certain  class  of  mistakes.  But,  says  Goethe's  immortal 
maxim,  "  The  Spirit  in  which  we  act  is  the  highest  matter" — and  it 
is  the  contagious,  the  influencing  matter.  u  See  how  these  Chris- 
tians love  one  another."  That  was  what  made  converts  ! 

A  young  man  of  liberal  soul,  ardent  mind,  small  experience, 
limited  knowledge,  no  capital,  and  few  friends,  is  likely  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly perplexed  on  his  entrance  upon  the  stage  of  life.  The 
difficulties  in  his  own  path,  if  he  has  a  path,  and  the  horrors  that 
overshadow  his  soul,  if  he  has  not,  call  his  attention  in  the  most 
forcible  manner  to  the  general  condition  of  mankind. 

How  unjust,  how  unnecessary,  how  inexplicable,  it  seems  to  his 
innocent  mind,  that  a  human  being  should  be  denied  an  opportu- 
nity to  do  the  work  for  which  he  is  fitted,  to  attain  the  blessed- 
ness of  which  he  is  capable !  Surely,  he  thinks,  a  man  is  at  least 
entitled  to  a  FAIR  START  in  the  race  of  life,  and  to  a  course  free 
from  all  obstructions  except  such  as  belong  to  the  very  nature  of 
life.  What  a  mockery,  he  thinks,  is  this  Freedom  which  is  said 
to  be  our  birthright,  while  the  Freedom  which  results  from  assured 
plenty,  right  education,  and  suitable  employment,  is  attainable  only 
by  an  inconsiderable  few?  He  is  told,  and  he  is  glad  to  hear  it, 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  a  few  other  boys,  here  and  there  in 
the  world,  are  severely  trained,  scientifically  taught,  conveniently 
lodged,  and  bountifully  provided  for  in  every  respect.  And  he 
learns  with  pleasure,  that  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  sundry 
other  nobles,  princes  and  millionaires,  live  in  the  midst  of  the  means 
of  delight  and  improvement,  surrounded  by  every  beautiful  object 
known  to  art,  at  convenient  access  to  all  the  sources  of  instruc- 
tion. Free  and  far,  over  wide,  enchanting  domains,  they  range  at 
their  good  pleasure,  and  wander  when  they  will  through  groves, 
gardens,  and  conservatories.  And  far  above  all  this,  it  is  in  their 
power  deliberately  to  choose  what  they  will  do  in  their  day  and 
generation,  and  to  bestow  upon  their  offspring  the  same  priceless 
freedom  of  choice.  The  rest  of  mankind  are  *  born  thralls,'  who 
toil  from  youth  to  hoary  age,  apparently  for  no  other  end  than  to 


LIFE    AND    ITS    DUTIES.  437 

keep  aloft  on  the  splendid  summit  of  affairs  a  few  mortals  of  aver- 
age merit. 

Yet  it  is  clear  to  our  young  friend,  that  whatever  of  essential 
dignity  and  substantial  good  is  possessed  by  a  few  individuals,  like 
those  just  named,  it  is  within  the  compass  of  human  talent  and  the 
Creator's  bounty,  to  afford  to  all  the  family  of  man !  In  the  con- 
templation of  their  possibility,  and  comparing  it  with  the  actual 
state  of  things,  some  of  the  finest  spirits  have  gone  distracted. 
Others  have  devoted  themselves  to  impracticable  schemes.  Others 
have  turned  misanthropic,  and  others,  philanthropic.  Others  have 
arrived,  by  degrees,  at  a  variety  of  conclusions,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing are  few :  that  man  is  rather  a  weak  creature,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  take  much  interest  in  him ; 
that,  as  a  rule,  man  enjoys  exactly  as  much  freedom  as  he  becomes 
fit  for,  and  no  more ;  that,  except  a  man  have  not  the  necessaries 
of  life,  poverty  is  no  evil ;  that  to  most  men  increase  of  possessions 
is  not  of  the  slightest  advantage ;  that  the  progress  of  mankind  in 
wisdom  and  self-command  is  so  slow,  that  after  two  thousand  years 
of  Christianity,  it  is  not  self-evident  that  any  true  advance  has  been 
made,  though  the  fact  of  an  advance  is  probably  susceptible  of 
proof;  that  whatever  is,  is  the  best  that  can  be  in  the  circum- 
stances ;  and  finally,  that  a  man  may  mind  his  own  business,  and 
let  the  world  alone. 

Others,  on  the  contrary,  come  to  very  different  conclusions. 
They  perceive  that  man  is  so  great,  and  wondrous,  and  divine  a 
creature,  that  it  is  irrational,  in  fact  impossible,  to  take  a  real  and 
deep  interest  in  anything  not  connected  with  his  welfare.  They 
believe  in  the  hourly  progress  of  the  species.  They  discover  that 
the  fruits  of  a  good  life,  a  good  deed,  a  good  word,  can  no  more  be 
lost  than  the  leaves  are  lost  when  they  wither  and  disappear.  They 
long  for  the  time,  and  confidently  expect  it,  and  would  fain  do  some- 
thing to  hasten  it,  when  Man  will  come  forth  from  his  dismal  den 
of  selfishness,  awake  to  the  truth  that  the  interest  of  each  individ- 
ual and  the  interest  of  the  community  are  identical,  strive  icith 
his  fellow  for  the  general  good,  and  so  cease  to  be  a  Prince  in  exile, 
in  disguise,  in  sackcloth,  and  ascend  the  throne  that  is  rightfully  his, 
and  sway,  with  magnificence  and  dignity  worthy  of  him,  his  great 
inheritance.  From  the  general  tenor  of  Horace  Greeley's  words 


438  CONCLUSION. 

and  actions,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  I  infer  that  this  is 
something  like  his  habitual  view  of  life  and  its  duties.  Shall  he  be 
praised  for  this  ?  Let  us  envy  him  rather.  Only  such  a  man  knows 
anything  of  the  luxury  of  being  alive.  "  Horace  Greeley,"  said  an 
old  friend  of  his,  "  is  the  only  happy  man  I  have  ever  known." 

The  great  object  of  Horace  Greeley  's  personal  ambition  has  been 
to  make  the  Tribune  the  best  newspaper  that  ever  existed,  and  the 
leading  newspaper  of  the  United  States.  To  a  man  inflamed  with 
an  ambition  like  this,  the  temptation  to  prefer  the  Popular  to  the 
Eight,  the  Expedient  to  the  Just,  comes  with  peculiar,  with  un- 
equaled  force.  No  pursuit  is  so  fascinating,  none  so  absorbing, 
none  so  difficult.  The  competition  is  keen,  the  struggle  intense,  the 
labor  continuous,  the  reward  doubtful  and  distant.  And  yet,  it  is 
a  fact,  that  on  nearly  every  one  of  its  special  subjects,  the  Tribune 
has  stood  opposed  to  the  general  feeling  of  the  country.  Its  course 
on  Slavery  has  excluded  it  from  the  Slave  States  ;  and  if  that  had 
not,  its  elevated  tone  of  thought  would  ;  for  the  southern  mind  is 
inferior  to  the  northern.  When  the  whole  nation  was  in  a  blaze  of 
enthusiasm  about  the  triumphs  of  the  Mexican  war,  it  was  not  easy 
even  for  a  private  person  to  refrain  from  joining  in  the  general  huz- 
za. But  not  for  one  day  was  the  Tribune  forgetful  of  the  un- 
worthiness  of  those  triumphs,  and  the  essential  meanness  of  the 
conflict.  There  were  clergymen  who  illuminated  their  houses  on 
the  occasion  of  those  disgraceful  victoiies  —  one,  I  am  told,  who  had 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  unchristian  character  of  the  Tribune. 

Mr.  Greeley  wrote,  the  other  day  : 

"  We  are  every  day  greeted  by  some  sage  friend  with  a  caution  against  the 
certain  wreck  of  our  influence  and  prosperity  which  we  defy  by  opposing  the 
secret  political  cabal  commonly  known  as  '  the  Know-Nothings.'  One  writes  us 
that  he  procured  one  hundred  of  our  present  subscribers,  and  will  prevent  the 
renewal  of  their  subscriptions  in  case  we  persist  in  our  present  course  ;  another 
wonders  why  we  will  destroy  our  influence  by  resisting  the  popular  current, 
when  wo  might  do  so  much  good  by  falling  in  with  it  and  guiding  it  and  so  on. 

"  To  the  first  of  these  gentlemen  we  say  —  '  Sir,  we  give  our  time  and  labor 
to  the  production  of  The  Tribune,  because  we  believe  that  to  be  our  sphere  of 
usefulness  ;  but  we  shall  be  most  happy  to  abandon  journalism  for  a  less  anx- 
ious, exacting,  exhausting  vocation,  whenever  we  are  fairly  and  honorably 
released  from  this.  You  do  not  frighten  us,  therefore,  by  any  such  base  ap- 
peals to  our  presumed  selfishness  and  avarice  ;  for  if  you  could  induce  not 


HIS    SUCCESSES. 


439 


merely  your  hundred  but  every  one  of  our  subscribers  to  desert  us,  we  should 
cheerfully  accept  such  a  release  from  our  present  duties  and  try  to  earn  a  live- 
lihood in  some  easier  way.  So  please  go  ahead !' 

"  And  now  to  our  would-be  friend  who  suggests  that  we  are  wrecking  our 
influence  by  breasting  the  popular  current :  '  Good  Sir  !  do  you  forget  that 
whatever  influence  or  consideration  The  Tribune  has  attained  has  been  won, 
not  by  sailing  with  the  stream,  but  against  it  ?  On  what  topic  has  it  ever 
swam  with  the  current,  except  in  a  few  instances  wherein  it  has  aided  to  change 
the  current?  Would  any  one  who  conducted  a  journal  for  Popularity's  or 
Pelf's  sake  be  likely  to  have  taken  the  side  of  Liquor  Prohibition,  or  Anti- 
Slavery,  or  Woman's  Rights,  or  Suffrage  regardless  of  color,  when  we  did  1 
Would  such  a  one  have  ventured  to  speak  as  we  did  in  behalf  of  the  Anti- 
Renters,  when  everybody  hereabouts  was  banded  to  hunt  them  down  unheard? 
Can  you  think  it  probable  that,  after  what  we  have  dared  and  endured,  we  are 
likely  to  be  silenced  now  by  the  cry  that  we  are  periling  our  influence  ?' 
******  *** 

"And  now,  if  any  would  prefer  to  discontinue  The  Tribune  because  it  is 
and  must  remain  opposed  to  every  measure  or  scheme  of  proscription  for  opin- 
ion's sake,  we  beg  them  not  to  delay  one  minute  on  our  account.  We  shall 
all  live  till  it  is  our  turn  to  die,  whether  we  earn  a  living  by  making  newspa- 
pers or  by  doing  something  else. 

Every  race  has  its  own  idea  respecting  what  is  best  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  man.  The  English  admire  '  pluck  ;'  the  French,  adroit- 
ness ;  the  Germans,  perseverance ;  the  Italians,  craft.  But  when 
a  Yankee  would  bestow  his  most  special  commendation  upon 
another,  he  says,  'That  is  a  man,  sir,  who  generally  succeeds  in  what 
he  undertakes.'  Properly  interpreted,  this  is  high,  perhaps  the 
highest,  praise ;  for  a  man  who  succeeds  in  doing  what  he  tries  to 
do,  must  have  the  sense  to  choose  enterprises  suited  to  his  abilities 
and  circumstances.  This  praise,  it  is  true,  is  frequently  given  to 
men  whose  objects  are  extremely  petty — making  a  fortune,  for  ex- 
ample; but  if  those  objects  were  such  as  they  could  attain,  if  enter- 
prises of  a  higher  nature  were  really  beyond  their  abilities,  how 
much  wiser  is  it  in  them  to  attempt  petty  objects  only  !  But  what- 
ever may  be  the  value  of  the  American  eulogy — and  a  Yankee  is 
an  American,  only  more  so — it  may  most  justly  be  bestowed  upon 
Horace  Groeley.  Whatever  he  has  attempted,  he  has  done  as  well 
as,  or  better  than,  any  one  else  had  done  it  before  him.  A  piously 
generous  son,  a  perfect  pupil,  an  apprentice  of  ideal  excellence,  a 
journeyman  of  unexampled  regularity,  perseverance,  and  effective- 


440  CONCLUSION. 

ness.  His  New  Yorker  was  the  best  paper  of  its  class  that  had 
been  published.  The  Jeffersonian  and  Log  Cabin  excelled  all  pre- 
vious and  all  subsequent  '  campaign  papers.'  The  Tribune  is  our 
best  daily  paper.  As  a  member  of  Congress,  he  was  truer  to  him- 
self, and  dared  more  in  behalf  of  his  constituents,  than  any  man 
who  ever  sat  for  one  session  only  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. In  Europe,  he  retained  possession  of  all  his  faculties !  In 
the  presence  of  nobles,  he  was  thoroughly  himself,  and  he  spoke 
eloquently  for  the  toiling  million.  Emphatically,  Horace  Greeley 
is  a  man,  sir,  who  has  generally  succeeded  in  what  he  has  under- 
taken. 

But  not  always.  He  tried  hard  to  get  Henry  Clay  elected  pres- 
ident. He  tried  long  to  wield  the  whig  party  for  purposes  of  gen- 
eral beneficence.  Neither  of  these  objects  could  he  accomplish. 

Of  Horace  Greeley's  talents  as  a  writer  little  need  be  said.  A 
man  whose  vocation  obliges  him  frequently  to  write  at  the  rate  of 
a  column  an  hour,  and  who  must  always  write  with  dispatch,  can 
rarely  produce  literature.  Nor  can  any  man  write  with  faultless 
accuracy  who  is  acquainted  with  no  language  but  that  in  which  he 
writes.  But  Horace  Greeley  writes  well  enough  for  his  purpose, 
and  has  given  proof,  in  many  a  glowing  passage  and  telling  argu- 
ment, of  a  native  talent  for  composition,  which,  in  other  circum- 
stances, might  have  manifested  itself  in  brilliant  and  lasting  works. 

His  power  as  a  writer  arises  from  his  earnestness  of  conviction, 
from  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  circumstances  and  feelings 
of  his  readers,  from  his  Scotch-Irish  fertility  in  illustration,  and 
from  the  limited  range  of  his  subjects.  He  says  not  many  things, 
but  much. 

His  forte  is,  as  I  have  said,  in  making  practical  suggestions  for 
the  better  conduct  of  life  and  affairs.  Like  Franklin,  he  confines 
himself  chiefly  to  the  improvement  of  man's  condition  in  material 
things ;  but  he  is  a  better  man  than  Franklin  ;  he  is  Franklin  lib- 
eralized and  enlightened ;  he  is  the  Franklin  of  this  generation. 
Like  Franklin,  too,  and  like  most  of  the  influencing  men  of  this 
age,  he  is  more  pious  than  religious,  more  humane  than  devout. 

The  reader  need  not  be  detained  here  by  remarks  upon  Horace 
Greeley's  errors  of  opinion.  A  man's  opinions  are  the  result,  the 
entirely  inevitable  result  of  his  character  and  circumstances.  Sin- 


441 

l,  therefore,  is  our  only  just  demand  when  we  solicit  an  express- 
ion of  opinion.  Every  man  thinks  erroneously.  God  alone  knows 
all  about  anything.  The  smallest  defect  in  our  knowledge,  the 
slightest  bias  of  desire,  or  fear,  or  habit,  is  sufficient  to  mislead  us. 
And  in  truth,  the  errors  of  a  true  man  are  not  discreditable  to  him  ; 
for  his  errors  spring  from  the  same  source  as  his  excellences.  It 
was  said  of  Charles  Lamb,  that  he  liked  his  friends,  not  in  spite  of 
their  faults,  but  faults  and  all !  and  I  think  the  gentle  Charles 
was  no  less  right  than  kind.  The  crook,  the  knot,  and  the  great 
humpy  excrescences  are  as  essential  features  of  the  oak  tree's  beau- 
ty, as  its  waving  crown  of  foliage.  Let  Horace  Greeley's  errors  of 
opinion  be  what  they  may,  he  has  done  something  in  his  day  to 
clarify  the  truth,  that  no  error  of  opinion  is  a  hundredth  part  as  det- 
rimental to  the  interest  of  men  as  the  forcible  suppression  of  opinion, 
either  by  the  European  modes  of  suppression,  or  the  American. 
He  has  made  it  easier  than  it  was  to  take  the  unpopular  side.  He 
has  helped  us  onward  towards  that  perfect  freedom  of  thought  and 
speech  which  it  is  fondly  hoped  the  people  of  this  country  are  des- 
tined in  some  distant  age  to  enjoy.  Moreover,  a  critic,  to  be  com- 
petent, must  be  the  superior  of  the  person  criticized.  The  critic  is 
a  judge,  and  a  judge  is  the  highest  person  in  the  court,  or  should 
be.  This  book  is  a  chronicle,  not  an  opinion. 

And  to  conclude,  the  glory  of  Horace  Greeley  is  this  :  He  began 
life  as  a  workingman.  As  a  workingman,  he  found  out,  and  he 
experienced  the  disadvantages  of  the  workingman's  condition.  He 
rose  from  the  ranks  to  a  position  of  commanding  influence.  But  he 
ceased  to  be  a  workingraan  with  workingmen,  only  to  become  a 
workingman  for  workingmen.  In  the  editor's  chair,  on  the  lectur- 
er's platform,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  at  ducal  banquets,  in  good 
report  and  in  ill  report,  in  the  darkest  days  of  his  cause  as  in  its 
brightest,  against  his  own  interest,  his  own  honor,  his  own  safety, 
he  has  been  ever  true,  in  heart  and  aim,  to  his  order,  i.  e.  his  coun- 
trymen. In  other  lands,  less  happy  than  ours,  the  people  are  a 
class ;  here  we  are  all  people  ;  all  together  we  must  rise  in  the  scale 
of  humanity,  or  all  together  sink. 

A  great  man  ?  No.  A  great  man  has  not  recently  trod  this 
continent — some  think  not  since  Columbus  left  it.  A  model  man  ? 
No.  Let  no  man  be  upheld  as  a  model.  Horace  Greeley  has  tried 

19* 


442  CONCLUSION. 

to  be  his  '  own  man.'  Be  you  yours.  "  I  rejoice,"  says  Miss  Bre- 
mer,  "  that  there  is  such  a  person  as  Fanny  Kemble  ;  but  I  should 
be  sorry  if  there  were  two."  The  spirit  of  goodness  is  ever  the 
same ;  but  the  modes  of  its  manifestation  are  numberless,  and  every 
sterling  man  is  original. 

Reader,  if  you  like  Horace  Greeley,  do  as  well  in  your  place,  as 
he  has  in  his.  If  you  like  him  not,  do  better.  And,  to  end  with  a 
good  word,  often  repeated,  but  not  too  often:  "THE  SPIRIT  IN 

WHICH  WE  ACT  IS  THE  HIGHEST  MATTEE." 


THE    END, 


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JUN  9     1967 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-12,'64(F772s4)458 


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